A Road Through the Dead (PalletShipping)

[The Great Gary Oak]

The Miles Stretch On And On​

It started on accident. Two deadly poisons combined with a strange plant serum in a laboratory. First, the Pokemon it was tested on began to die.

Then...

...they were dead. Dead, and moving...

The world began to fall to this deadly new disease. One bite was enough to kill...enough to kill and resurrect. The victim was, of course, mindless. Mindless, and hungry. Death means nothing to someone who has already died. The only known cure? Head trauma, preferably the strongest and most bloody manageable.

They were all at a conference, all catching up: Ash and his friends, past and present, when the Nurse Joy from a neighboring Pokemon Center came limping in, screaming that something was wrong...and then she died. They all began to discuss the strange event when Brock told them Joy wasn't dead.

Then Joy bit and tore out the throat of a trainer, and they began to do less discussing and more running.

Here they are, now: James is driving. Team Rocket has decided to live rather then fight the people they once tried to steal from. They were lucky: the RV is huge, a monster on the road. It isn't fast, but it'll get them somewhere. Somewhere far away. Radio stations have stopped broadcasting, phones have gone dead. Dead, just like the entire world.

There are quite a few people in this vehicle: Ash Ketchum and his two travelling companions at the time, Dawn and Brock, are of course among them. Paul is also with them, shirt splattered with the blood of Zoey...needless to say, she didn't make it onto the RV intact. Todd holds his camera like a lifeline to his chest: he barely managed to make it. Beside him is May and her younger brother, Max, both sleeping. Misty refuses to leave Ash's side, shaken and pale. Opposite of her is Gary Oak, who sits in seat bent over, head nearly between his legs. No one says a word, not even the rude and pompous Jessie, who sits in the passenger seat beside James, or the obnoxious Meowth, who sits between the two. There's not a word; someone's already mentioned going back to Pallet, amidst cries of wanting to check on other families. May and Max's parents have forbidden them to come back, and the others were unable to get any response from their own. Many are on the way to Pallet, and so their destination is set.

They have no weapons: Pokemon won't be effective with the disease running rampant. They have little food: the RV hadn't been in use. The tank is only half full of gasoline. Eventually, they'll have to stop to gain some ammunition, some food, water, and gas.

If they want to live...

Characters and Players

Username: AshKetchumisAwesome
Characters:
- Ash Ketchum (Satoshi) *State of Being: Alive*
- Pikachu (Pikachuu) *State of Being: Alive*
- Brock (Takeshi) *State of Being: Alive*
- Dawn (Hikari) *State of Being: Alive*
- Jesse (Musashi) *State of Being: Alive*
- James (Kojiro) *State of Being: Alive*
- May (Haruka) *State of Being: Deceased(PG 2)*

Username: TheGreatGaryOak
Characters:
- Gary Oak (Ookido Shigeru) *State of Being: Alive*
- Misty (Kasumi) *State of Being: Alive*
- Max (Masato) *State of Being: Alive*
- Paul (Shinji) *State of Being: Alive*
- Meowth (Nyarth) *State of Being: Alive*
- Todd a.k.a. Snap (Toru) *State of Being: Alive*

The 'State of Being' will be updated upon the status and health of the character being altered.
WARNING: THIS ROLEPLAY WILL CONTAIN GORE AND DEATH, AS WELL AS THE LIVING DEAD. READ WITH CAUTION. MILD LANGUAGE.

Twelve passengers on the RV...Twelve passengers is all...take one out, rip it apart...eleven passengers on the RV...​

 

[Champion Kaia]

James was shaking. He gripped the wheel tightly in both gloved hands, his green eyes trained as though glued to the road in front of him. He'd always wanted to drive an RV. Not a tank, or one of the other bazillion mechas loaned to him and his partner by the boss one fruitless mission after another, but an honest, fun RV. With cable TV and a minibar and everything. So they could at least pretend they were living a comfortable life, no matter how miserable they were. So it probably seemed fitting that by the time he finally DID get to drive one, of course he wouldn't get to live out his fantasies with it.
And Jessie... Jessie wasn't much help to anyone at the moment. She kept staring out the window, but anyone else who bothered to look at her could easily tell her eyes weren't really seeing anything. The fact that she was being this abnormally quiet oddly seemed to bother the pale-haired man the most.
Ash had his phone out. The tips of his fingers were becoming numb from the many times he punched the buttons on it, but he couldn't stop. He would not stop until he heard her voice; that always warm, cheerful, sweet voice that never failed to calm him. He needed to know she was okay in the midst of all this madness.
And the longer Delia Ketchum took to pick up, the more Ash wanted to throw the damn phone out the RV window. But he couldn't, because that phone was the only hope of any kind of communication from the outside world. With his other hand, he stroked the yellow fur of Pikachu, who lay limply across his lap, his eyes glassy with shock.
Dawn was trying to cry herself to sleep, so she could be oblivious to everything like May and Max, but at the same time she couldn't see herself sleeping peacefully like they were. Not after seeing what had happened to Zoey. She was hunched in her corner, facing away from the others; she didn't want them to see her face. She was terrified, and Brock's arm around her shoulder did nothing to help. She, too, had been trying to call her mother, but like Ash, it was to no avail. She just wanted everything to stop...
After a while, James spotted a sign. He used the moment to break the silence; and when he did, the voice was much smaller than he normally would have liked it to be around all these people.
"Cerulean City is up ahead, everyone...Just another couple of miles..."

 

[The Great Gary Oak]

"She won't answer."

Misty's eyes glanced up at the speaker: Paul, who she'd only briefly met before the disaster. He'd been arguing with Ash, egging him on, and if not for the hair, she would have mistaken the cold boy for the one to his left: Gary Oak. But Gary was still silent: he'd been silent ever since they'd made their escape, and the most sound he'd made was when he'd finally gotten up to go to the bathroom ten minutes after they'd driven away. The purple-haired boy spoke to Ash once again: "Stop trying to get through: obviously, the phone lines are down, or worse."

The 'or worse' part hung in the air like a noxious gas, and Meowth glanced over his should uneasily as it was said. Todd cleared his throat uneasily, fiddling and clicking the dials and lenses on his camera to keep his mind occupied.

"...She's...she's okay, though..." Misty murmured, her eyes now straying to Ash. "She's got to be..."

"Then that makes you a fool." Paul countered, tone icy and flat. "You saw what happened back there just as we all did. Unless his mother's got some kind of gun on her person or within access, she's as good as-"

"Shut up." That was Gary. His voice cracked with the two words, and he cleared his own throat as well. His green eyes glared up at the other boy. "No one wants to think about something like that; How would you feel if someone talked about YOUR mother that way?"

Paul snorted. "I'd feel they were right. Right now, we all have to assume that we're the only ones alive. There may be others," He added, narrowing his eyes as Gary opened his mouth to speak again, "But as far as we know, they could be few and far between. There's a large group of us, and that's good...but the crutch with that is that that's a lot of mouths to feed and keep hydrated. There's no point wasting energy to seek out other survivors."

"You sound like everyone's already dead..." Todd murmured; he'd turned on the video of his camera and was recording the conversation. When Paul noticed, he leered.

"Turn that thing off. This isn't a movie, you idiot. And yes, everyone else in the world might very well be dead. Even if they aren't, the chances of encountering another living being is slim, especially with the Pokemon running around. We are living in a dead world."

 

[Champion Kaia]

"Shut UP, Paul." Ash finally looked up from the phone, his own brown eyes glaring at the sneering other boy. "If there are other people alive, then they're on our side. I'm not going to turn my back on a single other person who may be out there needing my help."
And without another word, he went right back to the phone.
"Ash is right, Paul." Brock's voice was also quieter than usual, and his face had an oddly grayish undertone to it. When the chaos had started, he'd been quick to grab Dawn's hand, to drag her away from Zoey, and his grip on her refused to yield even now. Eventually she simply leaned on him, closing her eyes, as he went on. "Think about your own brother. He's out there somewhere too...I know you don't seem to get along with him, but you must be worried all the same..."
"...I should call my parents, too."
The sound made Jessie look up, for the first time, at James. The man was still staring out into the road. "My mother and father. I haven't spoken to them since I ran away, all those years ago." He hesitated. "...I hope they're all right..."
They were passing more buildings now. Wild patches of grasses and trees were slowly giving way to the outskirts of the city of Cerulean. Normally beautiful, now Misty's hometown simply looked abandoned, grey and sad. Pikachu's ears lowered as Ash continued to stroke him with his free hand, the other listening to the hopeless beep beep beep issuing from the phone he still held to his ear.

 

[The Great Gary Oak]

"...M-Maybe...Ash will let'cha...use his phone, Jimmy..." Meowth mumbled, gazing up at him. He didn't understand families, as his own parents had abandoned him long ago, but he knew that they were important to others. "Ya know, when he calls his mudda."

"Reggie can handle himself." Paul snapped back, which was a surprise, as he usually thought his brother was less than competent. "And YOU," He glared at Ash, drilling holes into the boy's head, "Are an idiot if you think we're actually going to waste our time looking for people who managed to live. An IDIOT. Just as you've always been."

"He's not an idiot!" Misty cut in, "He's just worried! It's not his fault that you don't have any regard for human life!"

"You little-"

A thump came from the side of the RV. The hairs on the back of everyone's necks stood up. Licking his lips, Gary gingerly lifted up a blind from the shades near his window.

"...There's...there's nothing out there. I don't see any-..." He paled. "...Oh God..."

Misty scrambled for a window, yanking up the blinds. Cerulean was her home, after all, and she had to see for herself if-

"Oh..." Her eyes grew wide. Paul and Todd looked out the windows as well, and Meowth jumped up onto the middle of the dashboard.

Trudging along, mouths open grotesquely, where the people of Cerulean. Or, what had once been the people of Cerulean. They were very much dead, now, though...save for the fact that they were still walking. Misty only had eyes for them, and didn't flinch as she heard the sounds of Todd's camera turning on video again, or Gary's hurried feet as he ran back for the bathroom again. Paul stared, from the other side, as the scattered un-dead dragged towards them. His lip curled up in disgust as one came by, dragging long lines of disemboweled intestines as it went.

"...Jesus..." Came Todd's hushed whisper. "Look at them all..."

"If you think this is bad, think of what bigger cities like Celadon look like." Gary choked out, stumbling back towards them. He flopped back into his seat, refusing to look at the windows again. "It's horrible."

Another thump. "I tink dey know we're in hea." Meowth stated, gazing worriedly as the mangled faces began to turn towards the vehicle as it moved.

Paul frowned. "I don't doubt it..."

 

[Champion Kaia]

Ash looked up from the phone, and instantly turned green. "E-everyone stay away from the windows..." he murmured, weakly, shrinking back from the sickening sight. Eventually, though, he too had to hurry back towards the bathroom, hand over his mouth, after seeing...something..falling out of a gaping bodily cavity in Misty's violet-haired sister's torso.

Brock saw this too, and blanched, holding Dawn close and murmuring. "Oh, God, don't look, don't look..."

James began to whimper slightly, staring straight ahead, trying to drive without looking at any of the zombies. This was proving difficult, however, as the banging on windows continued, followed closely by harsh, rattling moans.

The noise woke May, and she immediately curled close to Max, her heart thudding madly in her chest. "N-no...Go away..."

Ash stumbled back, nearly falling into his seat as he wiped his mouth. In his arms, Pikachu was shaking so badly static electricity crackled from his fur.

"We...we can't stop here..." the boy mumbled. "Not here..."

"Then where?" Brock's voice was even lower now, and he wrapped his other arm around Misty. His thoughts were far away, on his own city. All his sisters and brothers..his mother, his father. "They're bound to be everywhere...and if we're going to stay alive in this, we've got to risk some chances or we'll starve...and I'd rather be one of THEM than starve."

 

[The Great Gary Oak]

Misty let out a sharp, depressing gasp as she saw her sister stumbling towards them, unaware and uncaring that her vital organs were falling out. "No, no, it can't be her..." But then came the other two, one's scalp hanging off to the right, the other dragging a deformed leg behind her. The red-head slammed her palm against the glass, crying out sadly at her loss, tears running down her face. Todd taped her for a moment before moving to comfort her, turning her away from the three girls that had once bullied her and had only recently begun to respect her.

"Don't SAY that!" Gary snapped, looking at Brock as though the boy had become one of the un-dead within a split second. "ANYTHING is better then what THEY are!"

"But he brings up a point: we're low on supplies. Regardless of what's out there, we need to stop." Paul cut in, looking back at them all. "We can't live without any water or food, and we have precious little...unless some of you would like to sacrifice yourselves..."

"Paul..." Todd glanced back at May and Max, the smaller of the two being awake, as well and gazing with wide eyes at the bloody smear now on the window opposite him.

Meowth jumped down off the dashboard. "We'd havta keep everyone tagetha. Maybe we's can use a distraction so dat we's can grab what we's needs."

"The Pokemon has a good idea." Paul stated, making Meowth bristle, "If we have some kind of distraction, we can probably get what we need and get out...but where would a good place be?"

"Pokemon Center." Gary piped up. "Or a Mart. But I don't know where we'd get any weapons, unless..." He looked at Meowth, "Does Team Rocket have a location, here?" The Pokemon looked at him warily before turning to James and Jessie for the answer.

 

[Champion Kaia]

It was Jessie who spoke up, then. Her voice was shaking, slightly. "Some of us were in Cerulean for a little while, so there should be a...a warehouse of some sort, with weapons and maybe some supplies. I can't promise there will be food there, but we'll be able to defend ourselves, at least..."

"That's where we'll go then," Ash stated, as decisively as he could make his voice sound. James nodded, and began to scour the streets carefully, looking for anything that might fit the description. He couldn't quite see whether anyone was in his way or not inside this big rig, and the fact that he had run over a few of the undead bystanders was announced only by a series of sickening thumps. "Sorry..sorry..."

Brock shrugged in response to Gary's statement, still holding Dawn and Misty. "Obviously I'd like to avoid that, as well. But starving will be slow and painful, and...well..." He let his voice trail off, realizing now how foolish he must sound.

May tightened her hold as soon as she felt her brother shift. "Don't look at it, Max," she whispered. "It'll be worse if you look..."

Unfortunately, it would get worse whether the small boy looked or not.

 

[The Great Gary Oak]

A new sound made several of them turn towards Ash: the phone, abandoned on the seat, had stopped its beeping, and a timer showed that the other end of the line was picked up.

Paul's eyes widened as he heard the raspy breathing crackling through the phone, followed by what sounded like something heavy being dragged across the floor. Whatever had answered the phone must have done so by accident. A shrill cry came from far off, and from the word it said, it could only be Mimey, Delia's beloved Pokemon housekeeper.

The grotesque sounds that followed only meant that the poor Pokemon was doomed. Max whimpered, cuddling close to his sister side as they listened to one of the house's occupants being ripped apart. Whether it was Delia Ketchum turning on the Pokemon or not, though, there was no way to tell.

It was Todd who finally said something. "Shut it off."

Gary did so, making his way over to the seat and snapping the phone closed decisively.

"You see?" Heads were back on Paul again, "This is why we can't spend our time looking for survivors."

"There's no reason to think she's dead..." Gary tried, but he knew what the response would be.

"And the sounds of a feast over the line weren't enough to convince you? I'm surprised. I've been told you're pretty smart." Gary flushed embarrassedly, glaring over at the purple-haired boy, "Where is the warehouse located?"

Misty sat in shock between Brock and Todd, refusing to listen or see anything. The image of her only family shambling towards the RV moments before was burned into her retinas, and nothing else seemed to matter. She eyed May and Max enviously, jealous of their closeness and their luck of staying together. Max caught her looking at them this way and seemed to shrink, if possible, even further into his older sister's hold.

 

[Champion Kaia]

It took several seconds for James to speak again. When he did, his voice was considerably higher pitched than it usually was. "Um...it shouldn;t be far..." He hoped, anyway. He had never actually seen the place himself, and it wasn't like Team Rocket would be foolish enough to clearly mark any buildings they were using as their own. He looked to Jessie instead, hoping she could give a clearer answer. But Jessie was staring at Ash's phone in horror, as though something had just tried to climb out of it.

Ash, himself, seemed not to hear Paul. Or Todd, or Gary, or anyone else. His mind was far away, focusing on the one family member he had left in his life. How would she feel, knowing her cherished Mr. Mime was gone forever? "Mimey...Mom..."

May hugged her brother tighter, meeting the eyes of the former Cerulean Gym Leader with a look of sympathy. She didn't know the other girl very well, but that didn't stop her from realizing how horrible it must be to lose your family to something so horrible, and she held Max tighter. She'd die before she let anything happen to him.

Dawn was in hysterics. She clutched at Brock, burying her face in his shoulder and sobbing, while the older boy held her and tried to calm her. "Meowth's right. Wherever we go, we'll have to stick together." His eyes lingered on Ash's phone, then. "And keep that with us..."

Another thump; James had run over another undead. This one produced a very squishy sound upon impact, and this time it was Jessie stumbling back toward the bathroom with a pale face. "Watch where you're going, idiot..." she mumbled over her shoulder.

 

[The Great Gary Oak]

Gary's own face turned an unnatural color at the sound of the wheels grinding over the former zombie. "I don't care if he keeps running them over...let him." But it was obvious that he, too, wasn't fond of the sounds. He made his way back to Ash, sinking beside him with sympathy on his face, despite how green it was. He gave Misty the same look as she rocked back and forth. "The less of those things there are-"

"They aren't THINGS!" Misty shrieked, getting to her feet. Todd grabbed her arm, holding her back. "They're PEOPLE! Unfortunate PEOPLE!" She began to cry once again, allowing Todd to seat her again.

"...I'm sorry Misty..." The auburn-haired boy admitted, softly. "Really."

She snorted, looking away, but she didn't argue with him.

"...Jimmy..." Meowth shook James's sleeve from his position on top of the dashboard. "I tink dat might be it!" With a clawed finger, he pointed to several warehouses off to the right. They sat amidst several shops, and seemed ordinary enough. "I rememba seein' one of da boss's top associates deya!"

 

[Champion Kaia]

James nodded, carefully steering the RV down the indicated street. "Now that you mention it, this place does look familiar..." Despite Gary's words, he was much more careful to avoid splattering any more internal organs around. "We'll go in, grab as much as we can carry, and split. Somehow I don't think the Boss will mind."

"It's all right, Misty..." Ash murmured, putting a hand on her shoulder now. As much as he argued with her, as often as they didn't seem to get along, no matter how immature she was at times, she was still his friend, and he hated seeing his friends upset. "I'm sorry, too...But you still have us, okay? We'll...we'll get through this..."
His eyes met Gary's, and the look of sympathy in the other's green eyes seemed to make him feel just a bit better.

May blanched as her eyes strayed outside the window. Maybe it was just a trick of the light, but she thought she could see movement inside a few of the shops... "...Someone's in there..."

Jessie shrugged, reclaiming her seat. "There will probably be a fair few looters running around, as well." She caught Ash's eye as she sat back down. "The purple haired kid has a little bit of a point; not every survivor will technically be on 'our side'. Lots of people may just see this as an opportunity to get away with stealing stuff or worse. Trust us - we'd know."

 

[The Great Gary Oak]

Spoiler

OKAY. This is the THIRD time I've typed this out. Hopefully Bulbagarden won't FAIL this time and actually POST IT. >(

"Or maybe they were trying to hole up in their homes to be safe and failed..." Gary murmured, his green eyes trained on the shadows warily. "We can't help them, though...if we stop, we're asking for trouble. We're unarmed if anything happens, so if we get attacked, we're done." He paused, then managed to rip his eyes away from the windows and focus them on the group in the RV. "We have one goal, right now, and that's to survive. If we have more than one goal at a time, in a situation like this, it's asking for failure. Getting distracted by secondary goals in a dire situation is just asking for you to fail the primary...and if we fail ours, we're dead. There ISN'T any other option but to leave them be unless they make the effort to seek us out."

Paul raised an eyebrow at the auburn-haired boy's speech, inclining his head as a sign of respect for Gary's words. "Very true. And as for looters, we can only hope that we gain weapons before they converge on us, if they are, indeed, out there. We have to maintain our control of the vehicle, because without it, we're sitting Farfetche'D."

"Not necessarily." Gary cut in, frowning, "Actually, if we got stuck in a place, we'd move faster and better on foot. At least then we'd be able to make our way around things like downed bridges or trees...or even abandoned traffic." He pointed at the lines of silent cars left in the streets here and there. "Because this monster can't get around those kinds of things. The zombies don't move fast, so we'd be fine if we had to get away from some."

"There's one flaw in your thought process, though, I'm afraid..." Paul murmured.

Irritated with the youth, Gary glared back at him. "And just what would that be?"

"The infected Pokemon."

Silence fell once again. Misty whimpered as she imagined an undead Bug-Type swooping in on her, curling up further in Ash's embrace. Gary licked his lips before deciding to respond to the statement.

"It'd be better to keep going then get stuck when this thing can't go any further..."

"Ah, but how would you prevent attacks? Unless you get rid of the zombie's brain, it'll keep going. If we got stuck, this would be the safer place to be. We'd simply have to wait on help to arrive and survive off our provisions until then."

"And sit like Goldeen in a can?! I don't tink so!" Meowth screeched, hair standing up on his back in his rage. It didn't take an expert, however, to see that the Pokemon was actually afraid of the thought of getting stuck.

"Then what do you purpose we do?!" Max squeaked at Paul's sudden outburst, and the purple-haired youth stood up, face contorting with anger. "NO PLACE is safe! It's only SAFER! Even if we stayed in here, there's no guarantee that those things wouldn't be attacking us! No matter what we do, we are always in danger in this situation, but if you want to live as long as you can, that's what I have to offer!" He sank back into his seat, hands over his face, but he said no more.

"...We'll..." Gary cleared his throat, "...We'll think of something..."

 

[Champion Kaia]

Ash returned the embrace of the red-headed girl to try to calm her, while Brock looked uneasily at the windows. "We have to think of something soon, guys...the longer we sit here, the more danger we're in. They're bound to notice us out here soon enough..."

Jessie looked at James. "Right," she said swiftly, the color returning to her face a little. "First things first; we arm ourselves."

"But..." That was May talking now, and she looked terribly uneasy. "What kinds of weapons are we talking about here? Guns? Bombs?" It was clear, even now, she was worried about her brother. If her mother knew she'd let Max play with anything like that...

"All that and more." James said proudly, stopping the RV and cutting the engine. "Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find something efficient enough for everyone to use."

May clutched tighter to Max as she got up. If she had to leave, there was no way she was leaving him behind. Families had to stick together.

But Brock laid a hand on her shoulder. "No. Let him stay here." She opened her mouth to protest, but he swiftly cut her off. "Listen. Do you really want him going out in that? If this vehicle really is safer, he's better off here. And I'll stay with him."

"I'll stay too, May..." Dawn offered, her voice tiny and shaking, but she offered her best encouraging smile to the other girl. Dawn was an only child, a status she had always secretly disliked. Caring for others, be it children or Pokemon or anything else that needed it, was in her nature. "We'll take care of Max...And that way he won't have to see anything else your mother wouldn't want him to."

May looked around at them all, biting her lip. Slowly, then, she gave Max one more hug. "I'll be right back. I promise..."

Ash moved up to stand beside Jessie and James, waiting for anyone else who was going to come. The male Rocket was busy checking to see if his Card Key was safe in his pocket.

 

[The Great Gary Oak]

May's small brother gazed up at her. Max had been rather mature for his age, up until now, but he couldn't mask his age-appropriated fear that was now rising to the surface of his person. In any other situation, he would have disobeyed and followed his sister, anyway. But this was no other situation: something nasty was out there, and it wouldn't be moved by the group's determination and gold-hearted efforts. With a whimper, he hugged her tightly.

"Okay." Was all he managed to say before he stepped back, clutching to Brock's pant leg as he watched the girl move towards the others.

"No, Ash..." But Misty stopped, realizing with what little of her rationality was left how stupid she would sound if she begged him to stay. Even if this had been any other time, she knew he would only reassure her that he'd be fine and leave, anyway. But this was different: some of the times that he'd strolled off, he'd either come close to serious injury or death...or even died. There was no coming back from the dead, here, though, other then the obvious rotting corpses. She bit her lip, blushing out of embarrassment. "...Be careful...all of you."

"I'll go, too." Paul and Gary both exchanged a silent, unreadable look at their simultaneous offer before moving to stand with the Rockets. Meowth, too, stood with them. Of course he'd go! Even if he was scared stiff, his two comrades, the closest he had to friends, needed him.

Todd hesitated, fidgeting before he stood up, too. "I'll go...I'm gonna document this. Maybe what we catch on film will help others."

"Idiotic..." Paul murmured under his breath, but no one else objected, so the photographer joined their ranks. There were many more going out then staying, and that made Misty slightly antsy, but when she looked over the group, she knew (with the exception of Todd and May) that this was the best bunch of people to go out into the undead world.

"...We ready?" Meowth asked, softly, flexing his claws out of nervous habit.

"I think so." The youngest of the Oak family replied, stretching out his muscles. "Let's get in and get out."

 

[Champion Kaia]

James opened the door then, slowly, and May had time for one last look back at her little brother before she was swept outside by the flood of bodies. Ash and Pikachu brought up the rear, and Brock waved as he watched them go, one arm around Max's shoulders.

The minute Ash stepped out of the RV, he had to clamp his hands over his nose; the stench in the air was absolutely putrid, almost overpowerfully so, like the stench of burnt, dead, rotting flesh. May's eyes teared up, and she promptly tied her bandanna around her mouth and nose. Pikachu whined, burying its small face in the young trainer's hair. Even James, who had once owned a Koffing that had later evolved into Weezing, had a significantly green face as he hurried along, one hand around Jessie's wrist and the other holding his precious Card Key.

Miraculously, they reached the heavy door of the warehouse without much incident, and James swiped the key in the slot. A soft beep and a green light told him they had suceeded, and the doorway opened to a long flight of stairs. At the bottom, the Rockets knew, would be a long line of shelves against the far wall, filled with weapons that would, in normal situations, be used against anyone who tried to interfere with the Team's goals.

Now, though...

Ash made sure to shut the door behind them as soon as they were all inside. "Ugghh...I think they discovered how to use fire."

 

[The Great Gary Oak]

"No, likely some idiot was trying to set some of them on fire without realizing that it takes a while for a body to burn." Paul scoffed, following the Rockets down the stairs. "Be on your toes...we don't know who or what is down here."

"You don't need to tell us twice." Gary murmured, frowning as he realized Todd had trained his camera on him. "It's going to be VERY, VERY annoying if that's going to be jammed in my face the entire time....whatever your name is."

"It's Todd." The boy, contrary to the situation, sounded almost cheerful. Perhaps it was his camera and how he was using it: an almost normal thing in such an abnormal world. "In fact, maybe you should all state your names to the camera, as well as why you're in this group, where your home is, and how old you are. That way, if anyone finds this, they can locate where you've been and where you're from."

"My name is Gary Oak, screw you and your camera, I came from Pallet Town, get the stupid thing out of my face, and I'm here because," He paused, "...Because I was lucky enough to patch up things with Ash."

"How touching."

"Shut up, Paul."

Todd laughed weakly, training the lens on the purple-haired boy, now. "How about you?"

Paul snorted, glaring back over his shoulder. "This is silly...Fine. My name is Paul Simmons, from Veilstone City, and I'm here because, unlike certain sappy individuals, I knew when I was in trouble and stuck with a group of people I knew."

"Good, good. The more, the better." Todd murmured, and now his lens was on May. "How about you?"

 

[Champion Kaia]

The brunette was startled to have the camera shoved in her face, but, unlike Paul or Gary, she did not complain. "My name is M-May Maple, I'm from Petalburg City, and I'm here because...because I don't have anywhere else to go..." She wiped her eyes with her bandana, turning away, as Ash looked at Gary.

"...I'm glad you're here, too..." he murmured, feeling his cheeks turn pink. "Better than being out there alone..."

Jessie, meanwhile, was eyeing the camera warily. "Um...do we all have to give our names? Some of us feel better keeping our identities private, you know. Helps with the profession."

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Jessie." James was at the bottom of the staircase now, where a very different but much more familiar smell awaited them; that of a musty basement. He was already holding a pistol in his hands, and he hurriedly moved aside to let others have a go at the shelf. "I don't imagine we'll have much of a profession after this."

 

[The Great Gary Oak]

"Feh...alone, Ash? You have tons of friends here with you." Gary replied, forcefully pushing the lens of the camera away from them. "Todd, I swear, keep that thing out of my face."

"Touchy, much?" The boy muttered, but turned the camera upon Jessie, James, and Meowth. "And the guy's right: what profession? For all you know, Team Rocket could be gone forever. No one's going to penalize you for trying to stay alive, and you haven't done anything wrong...yet."

There was a loud clicking, and all eyes (the camera's included) turned to Paul, who had loaded what looked to be a high-powered rifle. "Very nice. Team Rocket doesn't skimp, do they?"

"...Lemme see one of those..." Gary murmured, taking another, similar looking weapon from its slot on the shelves. "But none of this has ammo in it...where is it?"

"Over here!" Meowth pointed to another set of shelves behind them, showing boxes and boxes of ammunition. "Take everyting yous can carry!"

Todd immediately opened up his camera bag, dumping the boxes of ammo in for a pistol he'd picked up. Paul stripped off his jacked, making sure it was closed tightly before shoveling more bullets into it. Gary noticed this and wasn't sure whether to raise and eyebrow in surprise or scoff because he hadn't thought of it first. He took off his bag, though, and pulled out extra shirts, tying them up and making them bundles.

"It's all going to be heavy..." Todd murmured, grunting as he hefted his camera bag over his shoulder again. The pistol was now loaded, and he strapped his camera to one hand, the pistol in the other. "And we still have food to get."

"There's bags somewhea." Meowth replied, frowning. "Forget whea, though..."

 

[Champion Kaia]

"...I didn't mean ME..." Ash murmured, looking for a weapon for himself. Rather than go for a gun, what he found appeared to be a large package of several small, flat, disk like objects, sitting next to a control device.

"Those are remote mines." James informed him, as Jessie took another pistol for herself. "You scatter them around, and then press this button here, see? And after a timer you set, they'll blow up." He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you'd be careful enough with them? They tend to go off accidentally if they're crushed..."

Ash winced. "I'll manage," he mumbled, emptying his own bag and bundling the mines up tightly. He was careful not to let anyone see what he was doing, although he had to smile at the irony. His mother was always right, even when she told him to pack clean underwear.

Jessie sighed, giving her own intro to the camera. "My name's Jessie Evans, call me Jessica and DIE, I don't actually live anywhere, and I'm here because I'm still stalking them." She waved a hand at Ash and Pikachu, who scowled at her.