Private/Closed The Dream (RP)

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

(Before we go any further, just thought I'd warn you guys: Rue's arc is going to get pretty dark from here on in, and will be dealing with a very sensitive topic)

Though only crudely sketched, the gijinka on paper managed to evoke... Something from deep within Rue. To see it now, was to part some of the thick fog that had shrouded her mind before, which had left her with no memory of her life prior to this town. Unfortunately, what she saw when the fog was parted was strangely unpleasant.

The more that she examined the sketch, the stronger the feeling got. Her pulse raced, her stomach did flips, and her fight-or-flight response was leaning very strongly towards flight.

"That's... That's someone I know. Or rather, used to know," she said quietly.

As soon as she had finished speaking, the radio suddenly started up. That dull, metallic voice which she sometimes heard playing from it softly said, between static crackles:

"Poor little lily, your petals are all wilted!"

 

[shiguregure]

"Yes! Those! I can't remember what they're called. I remember them from one of these dreams I had before. They're the h-somethings, I think." She took a sip from her tea. It tasted nice- sweet, but not too sweet, and with just a hint of bitterness. Just then, she heard something from the seemingly dead radio. A slightly mechanical voice, singing something. She stared at it, almost forgetting that it was an inanimate object that was powered by electricity and the voice was just some broadcast from somewhere.
(OOC: How did that person who said hello get in here? Isn't this a closed RP? Also, really sorry to ask this, but what's an arc?)

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

(I meant the storyline that I've laid out for Rue, which I will be exploring in more detail as the RP progresses. Also, though this is a private RP, there's nothing stopping intruders coming in to post random crap. We just have to report it and continue)

Rue was strongly taken aback by her radio's intrusion. "I've never heard it say that before," she informed the group.

The glaceon's speech alarmed the kirlia somewhat, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why... Was there more than one of the gijinka in Salvatore's sketch? If yes, how many were there? And why did the sight of that one on paper evoke such deep, strong feelings of... Fear? Dread? It had to be one of the two.

 

[Cicada]

He cocked his head at them at surprise, glancing back to his makeshift drawing. His face scrunched up in confusion at the radio's ominous message and he lowered his hand.
It seemed that they were bringing up more mysteries than they were solving them. He put his hands to his temples, staring off at a fixed point in deep thought.
"Is it even possible that I'm dreaming about someone you know?" he asked, off put by the notion. He quickly shot the theory down, shaking his narrow head profusely. "There's no way, right?"

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

"I know what you mean ever since my house mate died i have been having these dreams about a flareon and glaceon talking to me..." Kathleen started before stopping. 'Why did have have to say that!' She thought angrily. A long time ago her house mate was starting to act weird, She would cry randomly and talk about leaving. At the time, Kathleen was still under the influence so she though her house mate was just being weird, but about one week later her house mate tosted herself out there window. She was hurt and died in the hospital.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"It's unlikely, I must admit... But the resemblance is uncanny," the kirlia continued, "I suppose it's probably not the same person. Just a gijinka of the same species as the one I remember."

Something flashed up in the kirlia's mind all too suddenly. She dropped her teacup, and it shattered as it hit the ground, not that she noticed...

A dimly lit stage, decorated with wreaths and a raggedy headstone, which bore the name, 'Giselle.' A male lopunny mimed desperately to a kirlia, who floated over to the headstone, where she was taken down into a platform beneath the stage. The orchestra came to a stop, and deafening applause filled the room.

"Wonderful performance, Rue!" a man praised as the ballerina walked back into her dressing room, "Darling, you dance divinely!"


Rue sharply shook her head as the rest of the memory unfolded, blocking out the rest of the details. She looked down at her shattered teacup, once small, fragile, and beautiful, now lying in a puddle of scalding hot liquid.

Keeping her head down, she muttered, "You see, a gijinka of the same species as the one in Salvatore's sketch... Violated me."

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore's clenched jaw went down, fist clenching around the paper in his hand. It gave a weak crumpled sound as he sat completely still for many moments, heart beating in his throat and his fingertips.
"Disgusting," he spat suddenly, a sound that was low and guttural, and said no more. His hands were shaking in a vivid rage, muscles coiled like wire. He hid his face the collar of his cloak while he tried to contain himself.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

"Yes, that's what they called me," the ballerina continued. "Everyone said that I was asking for it, and that it was my fault that it happened."

Now that she remebered it, the memory of what had happened that night would be burned into Rue's mind forever. It was like being forcefully rid of a childhood comfort blanket; for only Arceus knows how long, she'd been blissfully wrapped up in the unquestionable perfection of this town, only to have to remove the metaphorical blanket, and come face to face with the secrets of the town... And the memories of what had happened that night.

The fear was gone. Rue continued to face the floor, sporting only a cold, dead stare. Her thin lips barely moved as she resumed telling her story.

Rue's ballet company were performing Giselle that night in Nimbasa City. The kirlia had been given the lead, and been forced to perform the rather difficult first act ballones in a skirt which was much shorter than the long romantic era tutu for which the show called, under the orders of her company's director.

The show was perfect. Vibrant and joyful in act one, solemn and mournful in act two. And after what was possibly the best pas de deux that she had ever performed, Rue had gone to her dressing room to change back into her street clothes. And then she saw the director there. And then he grabbed her hip. And then she struggled, and he clamped her mouth shut, as he eyed her up like a rabid mightyena does a baby swellow...

The director was put behind bars for his disgusting crime, and the company disbanded. Most of Rue's former colleagues blamed her for the loss of their jobs. They said it was her fault; if only she hadn't been wearing such a short skirt, he wouldn't have done it. If only she had fought harder, she could have stopped him and saved from prison, and from comitting such a horrible crime.

"And one night, I was just so tired of everything that before I went to bed, I wished that I could wake up somewhere else. And the next thing I knew, I was here. In this house, with nothing but my pointe shoes, and that radio." She finished.

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

"You should have killed him" Kathleen replied seriously. That is what she would have done but then again she had no idea how the pokemon would have done it. "I would have done it." She replied before coninuing to look over her notes.

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore's head surged up at such a velocity that he may have given himself whiplash, a guilt filling his chest great enough that he may have gone into cardiac arrest on the spot.
"I didn't mean-" He fell into silent horror, shaking his head and clamping his eyelids shut. Even though she was part of such a horrid town, he felt almost grateful that Rue had been sent here. At least she had been happy.
Not only had he been responsible for helping her remember such horrible things, but he had directly reminded her as well. He suddenly felt like leaving their operation entirely, too cowardly to face his crippling error.
"How can you possibly be so casual about this?" he seethed in Kathleen's direction. He wasn't exactly sure why he, himself, was so invested in Rue's happiness. It had been mere hours before he had been planning on pickpocketing her, and yet he felt like he was her sole sympathizer.

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen looked at the pokemon with a dull expressions. "It doesnt sut me to feel sympathy and with the things i have seen murdering people is normal" She said before getting up, "anyway its getting late. I would like to head home so can we come up with a meeting date?" She really wanted to go into a different concept. Kathleen truly did feel sympathy to Rue but they did have to leave. 'It there was anything to get back to' She reminded herself.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rue finally glanced up at Salvatore, eyes still as cold and as dead as they had been before.

"It's not your fault," she assured him quietly, "You weren't to know what had happened to me before this dream, or that the gijinka in your dreams would evoke the memories of my reality."

She pulled her toned knees up to her chest, balling herself up against a ratty cushion, "One thing's for certain, though. This is a dream, and we have to find a way back to reality... If I stay here, I'll lose my mind. But if I wake up... I have nothing to go back to. I have no family, no friends, heck, I don't even have a job anymore!" she wailed.

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

The leafeon rolled her eyes at the pokemon. "Even if it is a dream, isnt it better to turn back to reality ,no mater how bad it is, then to stay is a hell prison!" She parked at Rue before stutting her notebook, "I'll meet you guys tomarow at the tree!" Then, using the basket, Kathleen rode down to the forrest floor. Not waiting for a replie, the leafeon sprintes back home. 'Is that true' She though as Kathleen set her notebook on her counter, 'If this is a dream then what did i run away from?'. She sighed before making the leaves holding the papers in the room all disappear making the papers fall. Kathleen spawned on in her hand and looked over it, thinking of her choisen words from before. "What did you cause?" She asked the sharp leaf knowing it couldnt respond.

 

[shiguregure]

Noelle sighed. "Great. She left." She looked at Rue and Salvatore. "Guess I should go now. See you guys at the tree tomorrow." She was half an inch away from the door when she decided to turn again. "Oh, and Rue? I remember now. The featureless gijinka are called humans. Also, don't stress. You're a great dancer. When we get back to reality, You'll definitely get a job again. I Promise."

Just then, obviously at the worst time possibly chosen, her brain fell back in time. It was a few months ago again, on a bright, sunny morning. Her trainer, a girl with shoulder length black hair with a white streak and gray eyes, patted her on the head and gave her a Pecha berry. "Well done! At this rate, you'll be the best pokemon in the world in no time!" Then the girl paused, smiled, and said, "Well, no. Noelle, you're already the best anyone could ask for. Just remember that, kay?" It was the best day of her life.

Merely a few weeks after that morning, Noelle had gone on a train with her owner. This time, the sky was slightly gray, and a thick layer of fog covered most of the area, though the girl's spirit couldn't be diminished. "Noelle! we're going to compete in the Unova league! How awesome is that!?"

Halfway through the journey, it started pouring. Then, out of the blue, a flash of light enveloped the compartment. A lightning bolt. An instant later, it was gone, and the rails were on fire. There were screams from the passengers on board, and the girl reached for a red knob on an exit. Next thing she knew, passengers were flowing outside. Her trainer stayed on board and waited for everyone to get off. Then she stumbled out and tripped over a wire, falling into the water underneath the bridge. Her face registered shock, then fear, then calm, like she had already accepted her fate. This all happened in just a moment, and then the trainer hit the water and was carried over the edge of the waterfall.

Noelle didn't understand. Kayenne was a great swimmer, and Noelle was so confident that she would survive. She would've swum to safety and gotten help by now, and the police were going to arrive any second now. Well, she believed that until she saw the rocks at the bottom and Kayenne's limp form. That was when she lost all of her hope and concentration, and let herself fall overboard.

When she woke again, it was in a room. Sunlight flooded in from the windows. For just a moment, Noelle forgot who she was. Then the memories came flooding back at her. The train from Kalos to Unova, her owner falling off the rails, the waterfall... Her mind started to react, and then she was crying. Not full-on bawling, but small, quiet tears. There was so much they hadn't done together yet... learning to tap dance, getting her badges, the Unova league...she wished with all her might that Kayenne was still with her, that it was all just a dream.

Footsteps came into the brightly lit room. For just a moment, she thought that her prayers had been answered, that Kayenne had come back... but no. It was a nurse. That was when Noelle realized that there was a tube injecting a transparent liquid into her left paw, and the nurse was here to replace it. The tube was removed from her paw for a few moments, then re-injected in. Noelle made a half-hearted attempt to get it off, but her mind wasn't into it. That was when Noelle felt that sudden surge of depression, much stronger than the rest, and the impact blacked her out.

The part of Noelle that was still hanging on to reality-well, no, she was still in the dream, but for now, that was reality-forced her out of the flashback. She realized that she was on the knees, her head was in her hands, that the corners of her eyes were wet with tears, and that she was just a fraction of an inch away from falling off the tree. She got up and brushed herself off a bit. Then...oh. She had forgotten. Rue and Salvatore were both still there. She felt a surge of embarrassment as she turned towards them.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rue looked up at the glaceon quietly. Judging by the look on her face, Rue wasn't the only one who had suffered some unspeakable horror before being taken to this dream. It was kinda funny, to have come from a cruel world, only to be delivered into an equally cruel town. But at least back in the real world, Rue would be able to leave Nimbasa City, and pick up the pieces of her life somewhere else. Facing a hard journey to recovery was better than to just plug her ears and pretend everything was alright here.

Throughout it all, she'd noticed that Salvatore had been the only one who was truly affected by what had happened to her. If tomorrow, the group was bound for the trees, to look for a way back to reality, the question posed itself; where had the murkrow come from prior to this town? Kathleen had lead a relatively happy life, or so it seemed. Noelle, she could only assume, had been delivered from a cruel reality, like hers. But what of Salvatore? Unless... No, he was, like all of them, real, wasn't he? He wouldn't disappear into oblivion the second that this dream was over, along with Lex and that jynx, and everyone else in this town. He had something to go back to... Right?

"Say, you never told us what you'd be going back to, if we can find a way out tomorrow," the kirlia mused, "It's going to be hard, going back to reality, but I accept that I'm not safe here, and that I can't stay. So, what reality did you escape to come here?"

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen made the leaf disappear as the image of the dead glaceon and flareon she saw on the other side of the wall appeared. 'Stop it' She thought as she shook her head, 'you don't know them'. She then turned to the mess she made of papers. Kathleen started to clean up the papers and put them into 3 piles: Lies, drawings, and notes.

She headed over to the kitchen after finishing her cleaning and made some yellow flower tea for herself. Kathleen sat down and took a sip of her tea. She purred at the taste and the warmth, It tasted bitter but had a sweet after taste. She looked over to the piles she made and her bag by the door. Kathleen got up and opened her bag. Inside was some notes and drawings she made form her research. She then started to pack the bag with the rest of her notes and important drawing before finishing her tea. Kathleen set the tea aside and layed down on the couch and fell asleep.

(When it turns day, everyone is asleep, or you awake kathleen i will post again ^-^)

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore pocketed the blunt pencil and crumpled paper, smoothing the front of himself down before he stood. Although nocturnal by nature, the grey and vulgar feeling of fatigue had taken him as its bedmate. Rest sounded as delightful as the sweet release of this horrible dream.
A dream within a dream, he brooded, rubbing his nose with a knurled knuckle. His head shifted over to his companion of the evening and arched his eyebrow at the complex simplicity of her words. He was the only one who hadn't received a single clue, wasn't he? He shrugged noncommittally, doubling over and reaching for his coffee mug with one of his rawboned arms.
"Wherever it is, it's better than here," he replied dryly, reinforcing his words with a sardonic smile. He had deviated back into his ordinary, scummy self. "Now, if I could wake up draped in beautiful babes with a wad of cash in my hand - That would be paradise."

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rue screwed her face up, giving her remaining companion a sharp glare, "And you're back," she scoffed, "Though, what did I expect? This isn't one of my ballets. You're probably not going to go through some dramatic character development and then end up as a somewhat less sleazy man by the time we make it out of here, are you?"

With little to do except wait for morning to come, when the dream would hopefully end, Rue shifted her tone quite suddenly, softening her face back into its natural position. "And what if, in the real world, it turns out that you are surrounded by ladies and billions of pokedollars? Unlikely, but it's possible, since neither of us know otherwise."

 

[Cicada]

"Cheers to that," he agreed, raising his demitasse. He chuckled acerbically, tipped his hat and then the contents of the mug down his gullet. The blend had lost its heat, but was refreshing nonetheless. His expression was still mocking and jeering, but there was some seriousness in its lines. "If that's the life I lead, I'll make sure the first thing I do is find you, doll."
He lightened up at that, a heckling beam overtaking his face. "Yeah, that's it. You ain't getting rid of me that easily, sweetheart."

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rue's eyes widened, and she hurried to hide her face behind the ratty cushion she had been laid on as she balled up once more, "I-I was... I was thinking about moving to Black City," she said quickly, avoiding his... Confession, of sorts, entirely, "The director of Black City's ballet company wanted to talk about maybe... Making me their prima ballerina, if I pass their audition..."

Upon her finishing, the radio started up again, this time playing a different song. Unlike the creepy little melody about a wilted lily, the radio instead played, in distorted German:

Die Rosen schenken wir unsrer Königin.
Und die schlechten Blumen
steigen auf die Guillotine.
Ja. Schneide sie ab!
Ja. Schneide sie heraus!

And then there was a rustling in the lower branches of the leaves. And some muffled shouts, too.

Rue got up from the sofa, and peeked outside. Most of the townsfolk were there, surrounding the kirlia's treetop home as they charged up attacks of various types. Sophie the vaporeon, Irene the jynx, Kyrie the Lucario... Even Lex was there, preparing a fire blast with his stick.

Rue's face face in silent horror as she realised the group's error; for what Lex lacked in sight, he almost certainly made up for in hearing. He'd overheard them, hadn't he? And now he'd rallied the townsfolk against them, even though whether the four died or got out alive, the residents of this town would all still vanish and it would be like they had never existed in the first place.

"We're in deep shit. Take a look at this," Rue said quietly, as she charged up a psybeam."

Lex raised his arm, stick in hand. The townsfolk began to attack.

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore was about to say some words of encouragement, mind wandering off to what he'd do when he awoke. It occurred to him that the names of the towns and cities of which they spoke sounded completely foreign to him.
That was when Rue leaned from the canopy's abecedarian window, her slight figure outlined by the moonlight, and made her grim proclamation. He stilled for half a second before springing into action, feet carrying him to the window, where everyone except for him was preparing an attack. He cursed and backtracked several feet, throwing his cloak from his body like a layer of skin. It landed in a careless pile with an audible floosh.
The next sound omitted by one of his articles of clothing was the tearing of fabric as his wings flooded from the back of his overcoat. He rushed forward to the window once more and perched himself on its sill. The feathered ligaments protruding from his back, shining with grease and a dull luminesce, charged up a Wing Attack.

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen woke up at the light sound and release of one of her traps. She started to pretend to sleep waiting for her moment to strike. Her moment camr when she pinpointed a pokemon on the other side of the counch. As fast as she could go she turned around and jumped on the pokemon. It was..... John? John the mewstic was another performer at the place she "worked". He was usually a nice guy and did magic tricks for the audiences, but right now his face was full of anger. "Tradider!" He yelled before throwing her at the wall using phychic. Kathleen got up. "Terrible move now i am mad" She groweled before using leaf blade to make the pokemon smash against the wall. "Your lucky i appreciate your life" She groweled before making him faint with covent.
Kathleen got up just before two more pokemon pursted though the door. She had no idea who they were but she had seen the pokemon in the town before. 'That doesnt matter kill them' The voice of a man from a memory blayed in her mind and she charged that them. Kathleen stunned one of them before ripping the neck out of another.

She didnt pause before using leaf blade to decapitate another. Kathleen grabed her own bag and headed outside. There was no one around her house before she took off to the tree house. She paused as she saw how many pokemon had gathered. 'So many' She thought as she looked up to find a scared Rue and Salvatore going to try and fend them off. 'I wish to join' Kathleen though as she went the outskirts of the group and killed a small joltic. With the pokemon in her jaw, Kathleen let the pokemon bleed out to let she spell the word Hi on the grass. Kathleen tosted the joltic on the ground as she waited for the defending pokemon to see her message.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

As Rue warded off Kyrie the lucario with her psybeam, she spun around to face her next foes. A grand jete and a sousous to avoid the spikes attack of a skarmory. A draining kiss to get a dragonair out of her way, (If Salvatore had seen that, would he have been jealous, despite the fact that she did that to cause damage to the enemy?).

In the midst of all the chaos, she managed to spot Kathleen, bloodied, with a decapitated joltik at her side. Ignoring the terribly grisly sight, the kirlia called out to her, just in time for an ursaring to launch a focus blast at the psychic type.

She looked around. Kathleen was having no problems slaughtering the townsfolk. Salvatore seemed fine, too. And she was holding up alright as well. But...

"Hey, where's Noelle?!"

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore did his best to focus on fighting and not get too distracted by his surroundings as he was accustomed to. He was forced to get to each opponent he cut down, as all four of his set moves were physical. He fought off a Herdier, Humphry, with an Assurance and then whirled round in time to deliver a Foul Play to a Medicham, Lisa. He named off each Pokémon he neutralized, eerily having every one of their titles embedded in the recesses of his mind.
He used the surprising anger it struck him with to see Rue interlocking her lips with someone else to fuel his next Wing Attack, slowly tiring of the cyclical battle.
He scouted the area at Rue's request for the Glaceon and quickly came up short.
"Nope!" he called out over the sound of battle and, whilst caught off guard, was hit hard in the chest by a Take Down from the previous Herdier, sending him sprawling onto his back.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Upon hearing Salvatore's cry and an audible thwack as the dark type hit the ground, Rue attempted to fight her way through the chaos to see if he was alright... And then a zangoose found her, tackling her to her the ground as his claws glowed white. Rue immediately recognised him as Andre, the head chef of Cory's Steakhouse... Not that that mattered now.

As Andre prepared to shred Rue limb from limb with his claws, the kirlia attacked the only way that she could, in this situation. She knew that the force of this attack could affect everyone, but with her arms and legs pinned to the ground, she didn't have any other choice.

A lung-bursting, eardrum-shattering, high pitched scream erupted from the kirlia, along with expanding white rings, which forced her assailant to cover his ears.

Rue hopped up. Even if her disarming voice attack did widespread damage, it was clear from the sher number of opponents left to deal with meant that this battle was far from over.

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen stubbled, as she was stunned from the kiras moves, just as the ponieta she was fighting used first blast at her. She ew and hit a nearby tree. Her tail was on fire but Kathleen didnt fell it as she got up with her eyes turning to slits. 'So this game' She though as she raised back to the fire-type running in a zig-zag fashion. Once she got close enough she used curse on the pokemon and then used giga drain. The pokemon instantly fained form the two together. Kathleen looked at to see more pokemon running at her and there group. 'The sream did a number on them' She thought looking back, 'time for my own spell' Kathleen turned back to the group of pokemon as a large black orb arear in front of her. She used shadow ball on the pokemon and stumbled. The move always did that to her since it was a dark-type move.

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore winced under the enamouring reverberation of Rue's voice, but forced himself to his feet, slamming his wings into Humphry and finishing him off. He fell to the ground with a satisfactory thud, but he had advanced onto his next opponent before he could witness the festivity.
"Why do you fight us, boy?" a Floatzel he didn't recognize demanded of him, face vivid with disparity and sorrow. She lunged at him with her pair of elongated nails and he swiftly dodged her attack. "You're the same as us!"
"I'm nothing like you," he spat, landing a Sucker Punch square in her jaw with a sickening crunch. She smiled sadly before crumpling to the ground.

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Rue launched a final psybeam at a dusknoir, neutralising it as she scanned the battlefield for more opponents. No one remained standing.

The forest had become an absolute bloodbath. Along with fresh blood, metallic and salty in smell, the collapsed bodies of only Arceus knows how many gijinkas littered the area around Rue's treetop home, limp and still like ragdolls. Funny how hours ago, Rue would have called them her neighbours and her friends. Hours ago, she'd been watching Irene do her stand-up for the umpteenth time. Days ago, she'd been eating muffins baked by Lex as she exchanged meaningless conversation with a few chespins.

And despite all that had happened, she couldn't help but feel sorry for them. Their existence was parasitic; they could not live without the collective minds of Rue, and Noelle, and Kathleen and Salvatore. Whether the four got out of the dream alive or died, they would all vanish in a puff of smoke when it was over. Perhaps it was simply the anger over the fact that they were not real which had lead them to plot this futile assault.

With her mourning period over their attackers complete, Rue went to examine her real companions. The ones she would be bound for the real world with.

"Is everyone alright?"

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen sat down as she finished off her last foe. " I am fine" She replied before licking the blood off her paws. Kathleen was bloody, burnt with rugged fur. She licked her lips and tasted the blood of many so she guessed there was blood all over her lips. Kathleen personally had a lot of fun slatering the town fore but from Rues reaction to seeing them she bit the words back. 'I cant say anything!' She thought angrily as she turned her head back to the town. "word will spread soon and we need to leave before...." The leafeon started before stopping. Outside the wall she had noticed the ruins of a small town and with everything falling into place, Kathleen guessed this will become the same.

 

[Cicada]

Salvatore barely heard them, doubled over and catching his breath in deep gulps. He offered them a feeble thumbs-up sign while he fought for his words, his polluted lungs hacking and wheezing for air. Besides his physical condition, his mind kept relaying the Floatzel's words before he had reduced her to an orange pile of delicate flesh and bones. You're same as us! What did that mean? Why had he known their names?
The answer was right in front of his eyes, but he still rejected it.
He raised a shaky hand, dirtied with black dirt and blood, to his equally tampered face. The crook clenched and unclenched it before his crimson eyes before straightening himself up with a tired grunt.
"Not dead yet," he replied, ejecting a wad of phlegm from his mouth and to the war-torn ground below. With it, he forced himself to rid of his anxieties for his new team's sake. Still, the thought of Kathleen, Noelle, and, worst of all, Rue leaving him in this horrible world alone was devastating. This, too, he fought back. "What's our next brilliant plan, then?"

((Prince Noir hit my plans for Salvatore on the nose, so I'm pretty sure they were hella easy to guess, but here we are))

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

(I was honestly just throwing it out there, but oh well.)

"First," Rue brought her hands together, and then opened them, so that a pink, glowing orb formed in front of her small body. She quickly crushed it, so that it spread in sparkling ripples towards her comrades. The dead would not be affected by her heal pulse, so she needn't worry about accidently reviving the townsfolk.

Rue assessed her own injuries. Her gloves were torn, and the white satin was stained with fresh blood, some of it her own. Her green tights were shredded beyond recognition, thanks to the claws and bites of gijinkas she didn't care to remember. Thanks to a deep claw wound on her left leg, she had been left with a long, makeshift stocking rather than the left leg of the tights.

She didn't know if the shock was from her injuries, or the fact of what she had just done hitting her, but with a disoriented, slurring voice, she rasped, "The tree. That's where we have to go to get out of here, right, Kathleen?"

And then her legs folded, leaving her a crumpled mess in a puddle of fresh blood.

 

[shiguregure]

(I just missed the entire fight scene O.O Let's just say she got knocked out)

Noelle groaned. She was on the ground, having previously gotten knocked out. Which was sorta obvious. But she wasn't dead, which was also very obvious, and it was totally her fault.

She had just managed to either knock out or kill a Ninetales gijinka and was scanning the area for more potential enemies when she realized that a Teddiursa and Smoochum gijinka were standing in front of her. They were quite small, eight or nine at most, and Noelle didn't want to just attack them like that. So they stood staring at each other for half a minute until a grown Umbreon gijinka decided to use a shadow ball on her head, and she fainted.So obviously, she had to miss all the action and wake up after the fighting was over. Noelle hated feeling useless. She took in the situation. She had a giant gash on her forehead. But she was conscious, so the cut was probably not very deep, just sorta long.

Then she looked behind her, where there was a mess of random gijinka body parts strewn across the floor, and...Rue? She had been knocked out, her limbs spread out on the ground. Noelle inhaled sharply. She really, really, really hoped that Rue was only unconscious, and not anything worse than that.

"Okay, Salvatore, Kathleen, help me get her up."

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen stept back and knew the honkrow would just step in instantly while she thought. She knep from experience (yes experience) that Rue would be ok, so instead she dexided to pupl together the information she gathered. "Well we have to make the excite quickly or else this entire place will truly begecome a nightmare..." She started before looking back to town, "and the only hint we have is a love treecarved-thing and a cuple of shrins around the place."

 

[Cicada]

The Murkrow darted to Rue's side, immediately examining her with a furrowed brow and concerned eyes. He glanced over at the one he had lashed out at minutes before, Kathleen, and nodded his acknowledgement. Over his shoulder, Humphrey's, whom he had failed to kill's, fingers began to twitch at the Kirlia's Heal Pulse and he raised his head several inches, eyes bleary and drooping. Salvatore raised a gnarled finger to his lips to silence him whilst the others busied themselves with Rue and Humphrey raised his bristled eyebrows in surprise before heeding his words and dropping his head in defeat.
No one else would die on his watch.
Kathleen had beaten him to checking her pulse and, from her apathetic reaction, she still had one.
"Our priority is the tree," he said softly, running the back of his hand along Rue's dainty neck, the fight drained from his voice. His tobacco tin had regrettably gotten lost in the fight. "It should be safe to split up, if we've really taken care of everyone."

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

Kathleen nodded. "i will head first. Since I am the fasted." She stated rembering the small pokemon who hid when she ran past to get to the tree house, "I am also the best to go first since I can look at the tree better and examine the spot." 'and to make the way safer' She though to herself before she looked around at the bloody corpuses or soon to be corpuses. Kathleen started to examine the bodies as if looking for something and stopped at a fainted furret. In his hand was a sharp knife. She quikly killed the pokemon and took the knife and padded over to Rue. "it takes energy to does moves. So here is a knife." She stated platenly before stepping back.

 

[Cicada]

He nodded, tearing his eyes away from her to look back to his comrade, retracting his arm distractedly. He straightened himself up with a great weariness in his movements. As an afterthought, he forcibly pushed himself from the ground with a stroke of his wings and returned to the house in the canopy of the devastatingly damaged tree of which would very likely die. Within moments, he filtered down to the ground below and landed heavily on his feet, slinging the cloak back over his shoulders.
"Try not to die out there," he offered in Kathleen's general direction.

 

[The_life_as_a_shadow]

"Don't worry I have been though worse" Kathleen said smirking before turning back to the town and adding softly, "much much worse" She crouched down and sprinted away toward the town. The leafeon slowed down and looked around the corner. The town square was clear but she could head voices from near by. Quietly, She walked toward the voices to find a small eevee and abra.
"I hate this job!" The abra exclaimed crossing his arms. The eevee immediately shushed him. "shush what if they hear you! Our job is to make sure they don't the cave" The female eevee said so quietly that Kathleen had to lean in to hear. "what ever! I wish we could have joined the other with the attack" The abra continued to argue. The leafeon left them after seeing them as not a threat. 'First to find the incrimination' She thought as she approached the tree. The leafeon started to circle it as she started to try and find the incrimination, which she guess would find a way to the "cave".

 

[shiguregure]

Noelle stood awkwardly behind Salvatore and Rue, who was still unconscious for the time being. "Um. Uh, I'll go guard the area around this house. You know, make sure no one gets in and attacks you guys by surprise." And also so she could feel like less of an outsider. Well, going outside so she could feel less of an outsider. That sounded like the stupid sort of thing she would've laughed at just a few days ago, but now it just sounded stupid. Dumb. A pointless joke that only a kindergartener would've laughed at.
It seemed hard to believe that just hours ago, he had been arguing with Rue in the theater. At that time, he seemed to have been, by the looks of it, trying to pickpocket her. It was amazing that they had managed to resolve that conflict so quickly. If she was Rue, she might've just ignored him after asking him for her money back. She thought about that as she descended from the tree, and as she stepped onto the ground, she noticed something moving in the distance.

 

[Cicada]

He nodded, turning the brim of his hat that been sent askew in the onslaught of angry townsfolk. He heaved a great sigh and straightened shoulders, pondering over his options.
"I might as well head into town," he deciding, casting a weary glance at his teammates and, in a last resort, across the battlefield for his tin. "Kathleen might need back up."

 

[Shiny Blue Gardevoir]

Somewhere within the foggy recesses of Rue's mind, she'd managed to pick up the voices of Salvatore and... Noelle? So the glaceon was still alive!

Her eyes fluttered open, and the first thing that she noticed was Salvatore, stood upright, with his cloak replaced on his back. So, by the looks of things, he wasn't planning on flying again tonight...

She pushed herself upright, legs still splayed haphazardly on the bloody ground, as she enquired, "Did I miss much?"