Fragile Lives (1x1; RaltsxMe)

[Bullfinch]

Hope this is OK, man. c;

Images flashed through her mind like birds in flight, ripping through her imagination with jeering whistles and screeches. One moment, a burning hospital, the next, a crowd of people screaming and panicking, the next a skyscraper collapsing in on itself with a mighty boom. The final slowed to a stop before her, bright and the only one that seemed... real. It was her, or someone that looked a hell of a lot like her, with a boy, creeping through the streets of a broken and rusted city like mice in a maze just waiting to be shocked. They moved closer and closer to the gates of a once golden city, looking up and remaining unmoved as the demolished land before them whistled and moaned in mourning.

May shot up from her sleep, breathing harsh and pupils blown wide. With a nervous laugh, she collapsed back to the ground, which turned into a surprised coughing fit as her back met solid and unforgiving ground. She rolled over and dry heaved, wincing as she looked up from her kneeling position. Before her, the ruins of her home city stretched, keening and coughing like a living being. The buildings were decrepit, some of them having toppled over into the others and creating a domino effect. Her blue eyes widened in shock and her brown hair slapped her cheeks in the dry wind as she took in the scene.
"Oh my god."

 

[Ralts]

(Works beautifully. Sorry, fell asleep yesterday. I was like "Must...reply...to...RP...zzz... ^^')

Sweet Arceus, make it stop!
The images...haunting. Breathtaking. Morbid. This was crazy. He had to get out of here. This was fucking insane. screaming; chaos; fires spanning entire city lengths; monsters...demons. Things. Twisted bodies, blood...tears, angst, grief...too much. There was too much; all the sensations, so much, so fast..!
And, like that, it was over...but the feelings remained.
Wally bolted upright like he'd been stabbed with a branding iron, gasping sharply for breath, the cold sweat prickling at his skin like a film of iced water. Immediately he became sick to his stomach, gripping his gut, rolling onto his side...he let out a cry and rolled off his bed, hitting the floor with a harsh thump, pain lancing through his shoulder as he tried to puke, only to realize his stomach was empty, proceeding to dry heave until his stomach muscles cramped and he was gasping for the breath he'd already been in dire need of beforehand. Sweet Arceus, what the fuck was going on?
There was a tight sensation around his mouth...oh, his respirator. He must have had an asthma attack. This one was bad...it about knocked him unconscious. He couldn't remember what he'd been doing before this, either...was it morning? Yeah, there was some light coming through the window...must be morning. he'd never had an asthma attack so severe before...he'd passed out before, sure, but he'd never been sick to his stomach before! And what was with that nightmare? Did he fall asleep and then go under? Eck...what a wakeup call. That was one way to start the morning! Oh well...at least he was alright now. He took a series of long, deep breaths through his respirator until he was breathing fine again, then removed his respirator...hm. He was expecting a wave of the sour-tasting air of Petalburg to wash into his lungs, but the air felt...clean. Like his respirator mask was still filtering the air out for him. Weird...usually the air even permeated the windows and doors, but it...wait. The windows; where was the glass? And what happened to the wall? It was all fractured, and...holy shit, there was a hole in the ceiling! What the hell happened? Quickly getting up off the floor, Wally felt his heart pound from something other than his shortness of breath and raced downstairs, calling out "Mom! Mo-"
He stopped. There was no one here. In fact, it looked like there hadn't been anyone here in years. The floor was eaten away by time; grass sprouted out of the rotting floorboards, and the left wall of the living room was completely missing. Outside, Wally could see that the entire city of Petalburg looked abandoned, a pair of completely rusted cars sitting amoungst a field of fractured pavement with grass poking up all around, a tree stabbing thruogh the heart of one of the neighboring houses. The entire city was silent; the only calls that could be heard were of the Tailow and Pidgey that fluttered by happily, as if completely oblivious to the entire world below them.
Wally felt a chill run up his spine. What the heck is going on?

 

[Bullfinch]

Awesome. And don't worry about it; I'm just trying to get in a few posts before EOGs. D:

Alright. Alright, she could figure this out. This was all a dream, wasn't it? Yeah, just a bad dream. She pushed up on one knee and a hand, wincing as the dry rubble below her cut into her skin. Her shirt clung to her body, half soaked with sweat, and it was the first time in her life that it didn't bother her. She was too busy staring around at what had been her room. The far left wall was gone, having previously held a window; the wallpaper was half eaten by bugs and plant life, the other half having fallen away over time. Time. There was no other possibility. This was most definitely not a dream.

Making sure to grab her bandana, she made her way out of her room carefully, stepping lightly and toeing around the giant holes in the floor. Finally, she reached the end of the hallway and the beginning of the staircase, and she let out a muttered curse at the sight of it. "Shit." The once grand oak staircase was broken in half, staying stable until it reached the first floor - then it was a giant pit, probably at least five feet across. May rolled her eyes at her luck, tying her bandana around her head and gaining an air of wavering confidence. One, two, three... She took a running jump, landing in a tumble at the very edge of the pit. She wobbled for a moment, panting and pupils blown wide with fear. But faith must have smiled upon her, because she fell to one knee on the right side of what she now dubbed the pit of despair. "Heh. Lucky."

 

[Ralts]

...no. No. Just...no. No, this was crazy. That one thing was weird, but this was crazy. This couldn't be real. His family...where was his family? What happened to them? What happened to Petalburg? What was going on? This couldn't be a dream of any quality...no, that pain he felt before was quite real. And, of course, the cramp in his gut from dry heaving was a reminder that he wasn't sleeping. No...this was all real. As impossible as it was, he was awake and seeing the world through his own eyes. What was left of the world, anyway; it looked like one of those scenes off that show "Life After People." The one where humans disappeared and you got to watch and listen to the guy ramble on as the world built by humans decayed away into nothing...sobering. Kinda like this. Except this was really, really freaking him out. Where did everyone go?
Alright...fine. Alright. He could do this. Just had to relax, think this through...instinctively he reached for his belt, feeling for...ah, there. His pokeballs; right where he left them. Beautiful. Wally let out a sigh of relief, tossing the pokeball out into the room. "C'mon, Ruru!"
The ball sailed through the air...then kept on flying until it crashed into the wall, bouncing off it and clattering to the floor, rolling until it came into contact with the pile of wood that used to be a table. It didn't move, spark, pop open...nothing. In fact, it looked like the little device hadn't done anything beyond that in years; it was dulled, the colors worn away, rust peeking through in places...it looked ready to fall apart. Not just that, but it did pop open...except that it was empty. There was no pokemon inside. No Ruru.
Wally stood there for a moment, trying to grasp this. No, that wasn't possible. His pokemon...Ruru. His precious friend. A little Ralts. Gone. Where the hell was she? What happened to her? Did someone take her? Maybe he just grabbed the wrong pokeball...panic rising, Wally hastily grabbed a second ball from his belt, tossed it out, and waited briefly for a flash of light, except that nothing came. The ball bounced off the wall in a similar manner, broke in half, and clattered to the floor by the other empty pokeball. Empty. Heart pounding, Wally grabbed what pokeballs remained on his belt, chucked them across te room, and watched in horror as all three of them bounced off it in a similar manner, breaking, snapping in half, pieces chipping off, and clattered to the floor like pieces of a puzzle never to be put together again. His pokemon were gone. Gone. He was alone.
Tears of fear and frustration gathering up in his eyes, Wally stormed over to the...where the wall had been, looked out into the empty, decrepit city, and bellowed as loud as he could, "Ruru!!"

 

[Bullfinch]

Yay using break time to post!

May pushed up with a determined lurch, stumbling to the living room. It was in shambles, the fireplace blackened with long-gone flames and the furniture that had once been whole and comfortable reduced to the barest of framework. The floorboards were stained with age and rain, and she almost gave in to the delirious laughter bubbling up her throat. There, on the mantelpiece, were her Poke Capsules, slightly dusty and scratched but still usable. If her hands trembled when she reached for them, she made no note of it, for what she felt next made a world of difference. The Capsules seemed... lighter. Oh no.
She flicked them into the air with an uneasy shiver, looking at them with dead eyes as they fell to the ground and rolled away, some into the rotten floorboards and some tumbling a few feet before stopping with a dull thunk. They were gone. Her only family left and they were gone. Hope flared inside her when one of the thrown Capsules slowly opened with a groan, but it faded with a choked sob as there was no flash of light. No joyous greeting, no purrs of happiness of barks of forgiveness. Just...

nothing.

She made her way to the front door, hanging off of its rusted hinges by a thread, and stepped out into fresh air. It was odd; her city had never been this clean. It had had a perpetual fog of unhealthiness covering it, choking its inhabitants like a great coiled snake just waiting to strike. In fact, everything but the city itself looked fine; the grass was green and vibrant, the trees were almost as tall as the buildings themselves, and wherever she looked she could see that nature had overtaken the land, crawling through windows and doorways with a mighty vengeance. The distant call of birds only served to dim her hope of ever getting home more.

She was alone. Utterly alone.

 

[Ralts]

No. No, no, no! this was NOT happening! His family, and his Ruru...sweet little Ruru...no. No, no, no. No. Just...no. This wasn't happening. This wasn't real. The city was gone; the people were gone; his family was gone; his pokemon were gone; everything was gone. Fucking everyone. Where the hell did they all go?!

Panic feeding the lead weight of dread that had dropped into his stomach, Wally ran forward into the long-abandoned streets and yelled out "Ruru!" She had to be here. There had to be someone here. Ruru, Kat, Rosie, Cloudy, Digit....they had to be here. They were the best friends he'd ever had. They had to be aroudn here somewhere! He moved quickly down the streets cracked and bursting from underneath from the roots and plants sprouting up from the earth beneath them; no way all this grew overnight. These things couldn't have just appeared here. Some of these things looked like they had been abandoned for years. But there was no way. How could there have been years passing while he was asleep? It was just yesterday everything was normal! He didn't look any different! Wouldn't he be ages older if everything had aged this much? No...something was off. This wasn't right. The clean air that would have been a blessing disturbed him; Petalburg didn't have clean air. It was a blanket of smog nonstop. You couldn't take a deep breath without gagging. Now, though, it was like...pure. Beautiful. All this scenery, all this life...it would have been beautiful to Wally...if he wasn't so damn scared. Where did everyone go?! He couldn't be alone! He didn't want to be alone! He got scared by himself! He was nothing without his friends...his pokemon, his family...but they were all gone. What did that leave him?

Nothing. He was nothing without them. He was nothing.

Reaching hysteria, Wally stopped and lashd out at the first thing he could find--a big blue mailbox. To his surprise, the force of kicking it was enough to cause the side of the rusted, decrepit device to cave in, collapsing into a pile of blue-tinted brown metal. he gave a cry, stumbling back and tripping over a discarded bycycle nearly fused to the pavement from the rust, falling to the cracked pavement. In a fit of anger, he scrambled up and picked the bike up--ignoring the entire back end that broke off--chucking what remained at the nearest car, yelping in surprise when it simply plowed through the rusted door of the vehicle. Everything was...so....old. How long had it been? The newspaper box beside the mailbox...the newspaper was unreadable. The paper was rotting inside, resembling a pile of ash. that had to have been a brand new paper...they changed them daily. But now it was old, decaying...what happened here? Where did everyone go? He was so confused...so scared. He didn't know what was going on, and he was all alone.
Trembling, ignoring the hot frightful tears leaking out of the corners of his eye, Wally cupped his hands to his mouth and yelled as loud as he could in a fractured voice, "I-is anyone o-o-out there?!?" His voice echoed eerily off the sides of the dead city...there had to be someone in this neighborhood. Someone...anyone...there had to be someone. He couldn't be completely alone. He couldn't be...

 

[Bullfinch]

As she walked through the streets of her once beautiful neighborhood, the panic niggling at the back of her mind grew and writhed, feeding on the images of her friend's houses reduced to rubble. She grimaced at the sheer amount of rust in every crevice, clinging to the abandoned homes and streets like a copper rain. Bikes and cars sat in driveways like whimpering animals, crouched and waiting to simply fall apart under the strain of so many years. God, how many years had gone by to make this possible? How was she still here? And more importantly... was there anyone left? Terror flashed up her spine, and she picked up speed, running faster than she ever had on the previously crowded streets. Her heart raced, and she leaned on the creaking side of what used to be the post office as she closed her eyes and tried to fight back tears of frustration.
And then, something completely startled her. A voice, slightly strained and young, but still there. Someone was there! She grinned, skipping a heartbeat in her eagerness to reply. "Hello? Someone! I'm over here!" Her voice could have been louder, but the echo it produced was more than compensation.

 

[Ralts]

One voice. In a city that used to house thousands--millions, even--Wally could barely hear one voice. But that one voice might have well have been trillions; a girl! Someone was actually out here...thank Arceus. He was so freaked out, he had no idea what was going on. Maybe she knew what was happening!
"H-hang on! I'm coming!" Wally yelled, taking off in the direction of that one heavenly voice. There--down the street, by the post office. Red outfit, shorts, bandanna...wait, he knew that girl! That was May; she helped him catch his Ralts. She taught him how to catch Ruru! She gave him the best friend he ever had...who was also gone. Oh thank Arceus...she was his hero. His idol. Maybe his savior, if this was all really happening!
Wally was a frail boy. he wasn't very physically capable, and that could be the same about his emotional standpoint; he got scared easily, was meek, and tended not to voice out his worries. So, when he came up to the girl he saw as a hero, Wally ran up, threw his arms around her, and started crying. He was so scared...he didn't know what was going on. He just needed someone to hold onto him and say it was all gonna be alright, even if it was a lie...he just needed someone right now. He was scared and just so confused...what was going on?

 

[Bullfinch]

May might have physically burst with relief at the sight of Wally, Wally running towards her. Well, at least she had one good thing in this hellhole of a nightmare. She hugged him back, burrying her head in the crook of his neck and sighing. "You're OK." Her voice was strained and tight, and she hoped the teartracks on her face wouldn't show. "How did you survive? How did we both survive?" Her mind ran through the possibilities while she clung to one of the only people to ever make an impression on her that wasn't bad. She remembered helping him catch his Ralts, the joy that had lit up his face like a candle, pure, bright, and untainted by the hatred of the world. Wally might be fragile, but he was the only person she had left.

The only person she could count on anymore.

 

[Ralts]

Wally shook his head frantically, clinging to her shirt for dear life, letting out short, gasping sobs. "I-I don't...know..." He didn't know anything. What happened was anyones guess; his fear was rather obvious. If one thing went right, though, it was that he had May; his idol. The person he wanted to be just like. The strain in her voice was evident, but he didn't care; May wasMay, just as perfect in his eyes as ever. Everything was going to make sense soon, now that May was here. So, Wally just cried, venting out all his fear and frustration, burying into his idol's chest like she was his only link to dry land in the middle of the ocean. At least he wasn't alone anymore...

 

[Bullfinch]

May raised a shock-bleached hand to the back of Wally's head, petting his hair like her mother used to do with her when she had a bad dream. Her mother, her father... both gone. They were gone, and she was never going to see them again. Never. The flood of emotion that battered against her fought against the instinctual responsibility she had to Wally. He was younger, and she had to protect him. It was just... what was right. She couldn't just leave him here, could she? "We'll be fine. We just... need to find clues." She nodded, more to herself than him. She remembered her favorite TV shows, all mysteries and puzzles that could be solved with perseverance and a calm mind. A calm mind. She just needed to stay calm, and everything would be fine. "Yeah, that's what we'll do. We'll find clues, like on TV. We just need to figure out what happened."

 

[Ralts]

Wally sniffled a bit, leaning his head into her touch. Good ol' May...he knew she'd know what to do. May'd never let him down. "..k-kay." Anything she said. She knew what to do. He knew he sure didn't. What sort of clues were they supposed to look for, though? The papers were too old to read, it was extremely unlikely the TVs worked...it would be a miracle if the power worked anywhere around here. The place looked...he didn't know. Decades, centuries...he had no idea. But he'd do it, specifically because she said so. "H-how? Where?" There was so much ground to cover, so much to do...could either of them do it? They had to survive somehow...food, shelter. Some way to defend themselves; it was unlikely the pokeballs worked anymore, and the wild pokemon weren't bound to be anymore friendly than normal. And what about at night? They had to survive out here...

 

[Bullfinch]

May hummed, brow furrowing as she thought. "Well, we've got to find out what happened to Petalburg. And we need food and shelter before it gets dark..." she looked up, noticing that the sun was about halfway through the sky. "We should focus on shelter first," she decided with a nod, gently detangling Wally's arms from her form and smiling at him. "I'm sure the old School would have something." She looked away, smile fading as she took in the decrepit city. "Maybe."

 

[Ralts]

Wally wiped his eyes with his sleeve, sniffling again. "...k-kay." Shelter was good; he was thinking that. Alright...survival mode. Food, shelter, water. Shelter first. Alright, so what were spme of the places that would have made it? Not these building for sure,..they were all decrepit and crumbling, entire sides of the structures missing, if the structures were even standing. They needed somewhere sturdy. Someplace built to last. Somewhere... "W-what about the gym? It was built for battles, a-and Nor-" Wally bit his tongue. "Uh, the gym leader would have had some serious competators...Steelix and stuff." He didn't want to remind May of her dad right now...she about worshipped the guy. Crap...

 

[Bullfinch]

May froze for a moment, the jarring image of Daddy, can I go to your gym? Daddy, I want to see the Pokemon! Dad, why can't I come with you? her father bringing her up short. She shook herself, scratching her neck with a nod. "Yeah, the gym would have supplies in storage. C'mon, if we hurry, we'll make it before sundown." She grinned, bumping Wally's shoulder with her fist playfully. "Let's make it a game. You get there first, I won't eatcha!" She laughed, trying to ward off the feeling of impending doom clouding her mind. "If you win, you don't eat me! Deal?" She held out her hand, giggling.

 

[Ralts]

Eck...looks like he jogged her memory there, unless she shivered to a breeze he didn't feel. He was going to apologize when she offered that playful suggestion of hers...she was giggling at a time like this? She was...Wally couldn't help but smile now. She was always smiling, and it always made him smile, like it was a contagious disease. She could always make people smile. So, he shook her hand, his own still trembling a little from crying. "K-kay, deal. Just..." He squeezed her hand a bit, looking down a bit. "...promise not to leave me behind. I don't wanna be alone..." She knew he had breathing troubles. The air was so much cleaner here, now that the city was dead, but he was still frail. She might leave him in the dust, and if he lost her...he didn't want to think about that.

 

[Bullfinch]

May's smile softened, and she patted his shoulder reassuringly. "You know I wouldn't leave you. We need each other, you know." She brightened, knowing smiling and acting happy was the only thing keeping her from completely breaking down. "Did you grab your inhaler? Or was it...?" Her eyes dulled a bit as she cut herself off from saying 'like the Capsules'. If her Pokemon were gone, his surely were too - and the thought of little Ruru, gone forever, cut through her defenses a bit too much.

 

[Ralts]

Wally shivered and snapped his eyes shut, feeling a cold trickle of ice crawl up his spine. Like the pokeballs...he could practically hear her say that. She might as well have; it hurt just as much. He could care less about his inhaler; it didn't even matter. If the air was as good as it was now in a place like Petalburg, he might never need it again. But he wasn't focused on that. The pokeballs...Ruru...his babygirl. Little Ruru. Gone forever. Just like that, totally out of the blue. No reason, no goodbyes, no...anything. Just up and vanished, along with the rest of his life and the world around it. Everything he knew was gone, and the best friend he'd ever had was gone right along with it. "I'm sorry," he muttered, looking down at the ground, feeling the hot sting of more tears gathering up in his eyes. "I-I said...I'd take good care of her, a-and she's..." He shuddered, shoulders jerking. "I...thought I'd t-take g-good...c-c-care of...them..." His shoulders jerked again, and at first he thought something was going on with him, like a seirure or something, when he realized he was crying. But not like last time; that was out of panic. Hysteria. This was...heartbreak. All his friends, his pokemon...all gone...he never got to say goodbye. He thought he'd be with them forever. That happy little giggle of Ruru's ran through his head, remembering how happy and cheerful she always was, bubbly and giggling twenty four hours a day...it felt just like yesterday he last saw her, and now she was gone. Everyone was gone. Somehow, he felt like he failed her; poor Ruru...she must have sat there in her pokeball, wondering what happened, until the circuitry of the pokeball failed and the pokemon inside simply ceased to exist...he failed her. Poor Ruru. It was his fault. He failed Ruru. She never got to see him again...never got to evolve, like she wanted to. "I-I'm s-s-sorry..."

 

[Bullfinch]

May jerked forward, frowning and tilting Will's chin up with a concerned expression. It softened a bit as she remembered her own team. All of them, from her tiny Amulet, to the goofy Herman, to the kind and motherly Tigerlily... all gone. Every one of them, wiped from existence like they'd never lived, never breathed, never smiled, laughed, loved or lost. No more would Gane do extravagent twirls while flying, Herman wouldn't bark every time she walked through the door, and Amulet would never again purr and curl up next to her while she read. Just - nothing. She fought the burning tears in her eyes formed by a mixture of panic, despair, loss and frustration, and locked eyes with Wally. "Listen to me now," she whispered, voice shaky but determined. "You didn't let them down. Nothing you could have done could have changed any of this." She blinked, smiling sadly. "Alright?"

 

[Ralts]

Of course, Wally didn't believe her at first. This had to be his fault somehow. If he hadn't put them back in their pokeballs...he always left them out to sleep. He hated leaving them cooped up in those thigns, but his mother always made him put them away...the one time he didn't sneak them out at night, and they died in those damned spheres. Just...gone. Spent the rest of their lives in the places he tried to keep them out of the most he could. How wasn't that his fault? Wally blinked and felt hot tears trickle down his face, locking eyes with May. He missed Ruru. She was always his cuddlebuddy, and he carried her around like a security blanket...he needed Ruru. She was what made him strong. All his friends were gone...he couldn't take it. He felt his lip tremble, pinched his eyes shut again, and pressed his face against May's chest, once again starting to cry. Not as many tears came out this time, having already cried some before, but he still sobbed, mourning everyone he'd lost. Whatever happened turned his entire life upside down and took away everyone he--they; they were in this together--ever cared about. He'd never felt so heartbroken in his entire life. He knew what it was like to be sad...but nothing like this.