The Corruption Virus
 

It was dark, where ever the characters all happened to be.

Sky was simply just wandering around Nuvema Town, her hands in her pockets. She looked pretty bored.. She didn't really feel the need to send out any pokemon. She'd already been bitten, so she didn't really need protection from the Beast she'd heard of.

Jack, on the other hand, also in Nuvema, was sitting down on a bench, looking around nervously.. He was worried he'd get attacked by something. Or someone, considering what had happened..

Jake was sitting on his bed, in his room, in Nuvema Town. His laptop was balanced on his knees, and his Shinx asleep on his lap. The Shinx was usually out of its Pokeball when he was in his room, as being around it was the only thing that Jake truly enjoyed. He didn't know that he was immune, but he still wasn't too worried about being attacked seeing as he was indoors. He looked out the window, and could make out a couple figures. A girl who was wandering around, and a guy who was sitting on a bench. He appeared nervous, but he couldn't see him very clearly. Both of them looked vaguely familiar.
The Shinx woke up and jumped off of his lap as he closed the laptop and put it aside, and he walked downstairs and outside. He slipped his hands into his pockets, and walked over to the two figures.

Syren stood underneath a tree in Numeva, absently staring up into the foliage. Both Grovyle and Lillipup were out with her; Lillipup was dozing at her feet, but Grovyle was alert. He was always alert when they were out and about nowadays. The girl had come down to Nuvema from Accumula, her hometown, to buy some pokemon food from the mart, as her local store had run out. The pokemart here had run low as well, but Syren had managed to find a couple of cans for her two Pokemon. "I hope they'll have enough to go around," she thought aloud, "A lot of people are panicking and buying up what they can.. though, I guess I can't really blame them for being worried."
She heard footsteps nearby and looked around quickly, afraid it was an infected Pokemon coming towards her, but she saw it was just another human. He was walking towards two others, who didn't seem to see him yet. Curious, she picked up her shopping bag and started walking towards them as well, though she tried to stay cautious.

Anthony was a ways away from the others, swinging on a small swing set with his Empoleon, Zakath, standing nearby. They were the only ones there; there had been a family playing there earlier, but the parents had hurried the two kids away before he could tell them he wasn't infected. Nevertheless, he tried not to let it get him down. "Too bad you're not a Piplup anymore, huh?" He said to Zakath, "You could swing with me like we used to." The Empoleon just smiled.

Jack looked up, his eyes wide, when he heard footsteps coming towards him. Three sets. He looked around again, and saw Jake first. He breathed a sigh of relief, and noticed Syren and Sky as well, out of the corners of his eyes. Sky had seen Syren and Jake heading towards Jack, and just decided to tag along with them, her hands firmly planted in her pockets. "Hey there.. You three..?" The silver haired boy said to the three that had approached him, not really recognising them at all. Sky simply nodded at him; Her way of saying 'Hi.' without even opening her mouth. She didn't really feel the need to. She didn't recognise them as friends, and thus, didn't really want to treat them as 'friends'. More as random people.. Which was really all they were to her.

Tristan exited the pokemon center after his training session with his Pokemon which ran on a Bit too long and he surveyed his surroundings "*sigh* It'd be best I got home now, didn't want to train this long, least I know I got stronger" and he began to walk and as He Turned a corner near his house and saw into someone that looked like they had their hands in their pockets as well as three other people. "I'd guess it's better to stay away, but then again I could strengthen my Pokemon. Eh, forget it i'd probably win and It would've wasted my time." and he just turned back to the direction he was facing and kept walking

"Hi," Syren replied, jusr a bit hesitantly, then smiled. Lillipup barked happily, looking between the three others excitedly, and Grovule looked between them, his gaze lingering for a moment on Sky. There was something about her the grass-type didn't like..

Jake glanced between Syren and Sky for a moment. He had barely even noticed that they had joined him. "Oh, hi," he said quietly.

Sky glared down at the grass-type, before taking out one of her pokeballs, containing her Flygon, and threw it up, sending out the infected pokemon.. And pointed at Syren, her Flygon emerging out of its pokeball with the red eyes and monochrome body of an infected pokemon..

Jack stared at Sky and her Flygon, his eyes wide, before shaking his head, sadly. He didn't really know what to say. He never really was any good with people.. But seeing an infected pokemon and trainer had shocked him into silence.

Syren stepped back, her eyes fearful, "You.. you're infected." She said, then inwardly groaned at herself for stating the obvious. Grovyly moved protectively in front of his trainer, poised to attack should the Flygon strike, and Lillipup stood just behind the grass-type and growled.

Back over by the swing set, Anthony saw someone out of the corner of his eye and looked up, seeing another boy walking by a little ways off. He was fairly tall, and he appeared to have glasses. Anthony jumped off the swing set and waved to him, "Hi there!"

Tristan turned and looked at the person who began waving at him. "gosh, what does he want" and he walked towards him "um, hello what do you want, do you want to battle or something?" Tristan asked while giving a slightly menacing stare

"Well, I was just saying hello, but if a battle's what you want," He looked back at his Empoleon and grinned, "What do ya say, Zakath? Up for a sparring match?" Zakath walked up to his trainer's side and got into a stance to show he was ready.

"Ah, a chipper kid huh well then I do have time to spare so. I choose you Zorua" and he took out a Pokeball that had many scratches on it and sent out his Zorua which began growling and ready to fight "A bigger target, well the Bigger they are the Harder they fall, Zorua use Faint Attack "and Zorua dashed at the Empoleon to attack it

The Empoleon took the hit head-on, and it did skid back a ways before regaining its balance. "Not bad," Anthony said, "Zakath, use Metal claw!" Zakath ran towards the zorua, its claws and wings glowing with a metallic shine as it slashed at the smaller pokemon.

Zorua took the hit, which did alot of damage but regained balance
"C'mon you got this, Zorua use Dig!" Tristan ordered
the Zorua began to Burrow it's way underground and readied it's attack against the Empoleon "Okay Attack now Zorua" and The Zorua Rose from the ground to attack

Anthony frowned, scanning the ground at his pokemon's feet as he tried to think of a way to counter the attack. Then he had it, "Zakath, wait until he comes up and use Hydro Pump straight down!" Zakath did, waiting until he felt the attack hit before countering. He couldn't avoid the damage, however; when he landed, it was an effort for the Empoleon to keep standing.

"*whew* Dodged a bullet, almost..now Zorua get ready for the next attack, and Use Shadow Ball" and Zorua Backed up and began charging it's Shadow Ball and Fired it at the Empoleon

The Shadow Ball hit directly, and Zakath only remained standing for a moment before collapsing, fainted. Anthony held out the Empoleon's pokeball to recall him, " Nice work, Zakath. Take a well-earned rest." Then he looked up at Tristan and grinned, "Nice job, friend. You trained your Zorua well."

Sky simply turned to the side, sighing. "That's right." she'd reply, flatly, almost irritated with the fact Syren had stated the obvious. "Now tell your pokemon to stop annoying me, would you, Queen Obvious?"

Jake flinched. He had never seen anyone become corrupted quite so... easily. He took a small step back, and then felt something touching his ankle. It was Shinx, which had found him outside. He picked it up, and took a few more slow steps back. "I-I'll be right back..."

Tristan walked up to his Zorua "Good job girl, you deserve a rest" and he Returned it to his pokeball, then he looked at Anthony "Kid, if there's anything I can say is that you know how to battle, but you hesitated too much especially near the end. And you have no excuse either especially with a powerful Pokemon in Empoleon. But you've earned some of my respect. even if your a kid" Tristan said

"Y-yeah, sorry," Syren said, flushing slightly at the "Queen obvious" comment, "Grovyle, Lillipup," Lillipup backed up a few steps and returned to her original spot at the girl's feet; Grovyle just turned, saying part of his name in a way that was clearly a "humph".

"Well, thanks," Anthony grinned, "Oh, the name's Anthony, by the way," He held his hand out to the other boy.

Tristan adjusted his glasses and stuck his hand out "My name is Tristan..." and he shook his hand "I think you should Catch more Pokemon to compliment your Empoleon" Tristan suggested

Sky's Flygon simply glared down at Grovyle, acting rather like its trainer, saying 'Fly' in a rather irritated tone, while Sky raised a pokeball. "That's enough from you. Get back." and thus, she returned her Dragon/Ground-type pokemon, before turning back to Syren. "Look.. I'm sorry if I seem rude or anything.. But to be frank, no one's ever reacted like that to seeing me before."

Jack had decided to quietly, and quickly slip away to follow Jake. He was a little curious as to where he'd be going.. And why.

Anthony and Tristan would probably be able to hear a low growl, coming from the shadows.. It sounded like a dog-like pokemon, like a Houndour or Houndoom.. Just a bit distorted. If they looked to see where it was coming from, they'd see a pair of red eyes staring at them..

Jake glanced at Jack, who was now following him. "Hey. You didn't dare stand your ground against that girl either?" He set his Shinx back down on the ground, and then turned towards Jack and offered to shake his hand. "I'm Jake."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Syren apologized, "I guess that was rude of me. I'm just a bit jumpy, I guess." She smiled briefly, "Well, my name's Syren."

"I might do that someday," Anthony said, "I'm sure Zakath gets lonely someti--" He stopped, hearing a growl coming from somewhere nearby. "Do you hear that, Tristan?"

Jack nodded, shaking the other boy's hand. "Jack. I didn't really feel like it would be a good idea to.." he'd reply, sighing. "It's so sad.. So many people're so.. Corrupted.."

"If you say so.. I'm Sky." the pink haired girl just shrugged, as if introducing herself was pretty much nothing..

"Yes....I hear it Anthony, and I'm thinking of a plan. Can your Empoleon battle, cause we may have a problem on our hands." Tristan said while reaching for one of his pokeballs "so what, is it battle ready or not?" Tristan began to become impatient

"I don't think so, he battled pretty ha--" Anthony broke off with a yelp as a Flamethrower attack shot towards him, and he ducked, barely avoiding it. He looked in the direction of where the attack had come from, and saw a pair of red eyes in the shadows. "Oh, no..."

Tristan let out a groan and cursed to himself "here take this potion and heal it or something, i'll divert it's attention, hmph. You need to be more prepared" Tristan critizised before tossing Anthony a potion, then looking where the flamethrower came from "I choose you growlithe" and Tristan sent out his Growlithe "I dare this pokemon to hit me with another flamethrower. It'll be in for a surpise, Growlithe use ember" Tristan ordered and the Growlithe shot a few embers of fire at the red eyed pokemon

Anthony caught the potion, "Well, sooory. I usually don't battle that much. And be careful, I think it may be an Infected pokemon." He took a few steps away and sent out Zakath again, using the potion on the exhausted Empoleon to heal him. "Will ya be alright to battle again, Zakath?" He asked. Zakath nodded immediately and stood, though the boy could see that he wasn't entirely healed. "Well, okay then. Help out Tristan's Growlithe and use Ice Beam!" The Empoleon shot out a beam of pure concentrated cold towards the red eyes.

The Ice Beam melted, and both Anthony and the Empoleon jumped away to avoid the fire, "Okay Zakath, use Hydro Pump!" Anthony yelled. He didn't want Zakath to try any physical attacks; the water-type was still weak from their battle with Tristain, but he also didn't want to risk his friend being infected.

Jake heard some battling in the distance. He turned in that direction... there was a clearly corrupted Pokemon retreating. Wait, was that... Houndoom? "Holy crap! Is that it?"

"Well now..That was an odd confrontation. I've heard of the infected Pokemon but never saw them in person like that. Not too much of a challenge though." as Tristan dismissed the confrontation.

"I've seen quite a few of 'em," Anthony said, returning the exhausted Zakath to his Pokeball, "And trust me, there are stronger ones than that. And more brutal ones; I saw a Donphan once that was attacking a little girl... she had a Snover, but it didn't matter how many Ice or Grass-type attacks it was hit with, the Donphan didn't stop until both the girl and the Snover were literally flattened into the ground.. There were medics on the way, but it was no use..." he shuddered.

Jack turned as well, "Is what.." he didn't see the Houndoom until it rushed past them, whimpering because of the water. "A Houndoom? An infected Houndoom? Afraid of water? That's not something you see everyday.." he'd remark, smiling nervously.

"Flattened.....I See" and the comment made his skin crawl "Hmmm..I hear something, like other voices." Tristan said while hesitating at the other voices

Anthony frowned, hearing the other voices for the first time, "Huh, I hear it, too." He looked around, then saw two other boys not far off, looking in their direction. "Over there," he said to Trstan, nodding in the others' direction. He waved to the other two, "Hey there!"

Sky quickly scanned around for the two boys she'd seen.. And sighed, noticing them missing. 'They probably left because of how I was acting..' she thought, her expression pretty much giving away how she really felt. She looked a bit on the sad side..

Jack noticed one of the boys, Anthony, waving at Jake and himself, and thus, waved back.. Then looked a little surprised, as he got a better look at the boy waving.. He'd try to shrug off an odd feeling, and walked towards the other pair of boys.. Or would've, but he'd stop half-way and turn around to Jake, motioning for him to follow him.

Syren noticed Sky's expression and looked around, noticing that the boys had left. "Oh.. I bet they didn't go too far; I think they went this way," She gestured to the left, "Lt's go looking for them, shall we?" She turned, looking back at the other girl for an answer.

Sky shrugged, trying not to seem as sad as before.. More indifferent. "Eh, sure, whatever.. They probably got scared and ran off when we weren't looking." she'd remark, nodding very slightly..

Syren nodded, starting to walk in the direction the others had gone. She was kinda starting to like this girl, but she was still a bit hesitant yet. "So, um.. if you don't mind me asking, how did you get infected?"

"Let's just say I didn't pay attention in a battle.. I got bitten." Sky looked down, before pulling up one of her sleeves, revealing a large bite mark. "And that's all I'll say on the matter." she added, as she rolled it back down again and followed the other girl..

Syren looked at the bite mark on the girl's arm and grimaced slighty, "That looks painful." She said. I wonder if Gunther had a bite mark like that.. She thought to herself.

"It was.. But what's done is done. I can't turn back time to make myself be normal again." Sky replied in a matter-of-fact sort of way, walking on ahead of Syren, not wanting to talk about the virus any further, it seemed..

Syren got the message, letting the topic drop. She looked around, seeing two other boys near a swing set not too far away. One of them was waving, and she followed his look and caught sight of the two that had left earlier. "I think I see them over there," she said to Sky, gesturing in their direction.

"......I still feel odd about that 'Infected Pokemon' wouldn't the Gym League have dealt with it by now?" Tristan thought to himself, he turned and saw people walking to we're they were "...d-do you know these people?" he asked Anthony

"Nope, never seen them before," Anthony replied cheerily, "And I don't know why they haven't. Maybe they've already tried and failed, or they just don't have a plan yet. Who knows?"

Sky nodded to Syren, before going to approach the group of boys, trying not to seem that relieved to find them. "..Hey, you four." she'd say, when she got close, in a rather quiet voice, saying the word as she'd carefully thought of what she was going to say to them for a little while..

Tristan was the first to acknowledge Sky "Yes, Um...who are you, and what do you want" Tristan asked with some contempt as he usually does by nature

Anthony looked at Sky and Syren, who was just behind her, and nodded, "Hi there," he said, "I don't think I've seen either of you two around before."

"..I'm Sky." the pink haired girl replied to Tristan, her eyes narrowing at how he greeted them with contempt. She just shrugged to Anthony, "I'm not from Nuvema, so that's probably why."

Jack just watched Sky and Syren arrive, raising a hand in greeting.. But kept pretty quiet.

"Ah, that would explain it," Anthony nodded, "Well, I'm Anthony, and this here is Tristan," He nudged the other boy with his elbow gently, half in a playful way, and half in a "be nice" kind of way.

Syren noticed Jack waving to them, and waved back, "My name is Syren," She said to the two other boys.

"I'm Jack.." was all the silver haired boy had to say, after Syren introduced herself.. He wasn't really sure what to say.. He just nodded to Anthony, when the boy introduced himself and Tristan..

Sky nodded, "Anthony and Tristan.. Nice to meet you, I suppose.." she'd reply, looking off to the side.

Tristan grabbed his elbow and Anthony and looked at Sky for a second "*sigh* I'm sorry for my attitude" and put his hands in his pockets.
and he finally acknowledged Jack "Hey, I'm Tristan...."
"So, Sky, if your not from Nuvema, where are you from?" Tristan asked

(Sorry about the two-day wait. Exams.)

Sky turned to him, her face showing an expression of slight irritation. "And why exactly should I tell you?.. Eh, no harm in saying.. I'm from the Village Bridge, up north." she'd reply, shrugging. "Although, I did use to vist that place near the Giant Chasm pretty often.. Forgot its name though.. Something with an 'L' town."

"Lacunosa Town?" Anthony asked after a moment of thought, "I think that's the name of it. Anyway, that's neat that you live on the bridge; I'm from Nimbasa myself, but we were visiting some family friends at the edge of town here.." He broke off, rubbing absently at one shoulder.

(Ehehe, sorry about the wait, again. I've been pretty busy..)

Watching Anthony and Sky talking with each other, Jack edged a little bit closer towards Jake, subconciously, as if trying to hide behind the other boy..

Sky nodded, "Nimbasa, huh.. You live near quite a lot of things.. That's probably a bit cooler than living on a bridge. I've got to try visting Nimbasa one of these days.." she'd laugh, albeit forced, to try to make herself seem a little bit more friendly.. But to be honest, she didn't really care.

Tristan looked at the sky..
"It is getting pretty dark, why dont we go to the pokemon center, at least it's warm in there" Tristan suggested