Era of the Flesh Plague

A female holographic form came into being. There she was. The firebrand of the Elite Four. Malva. Looking a lot worse for wear, she scanned the room.

"Hm, I see you all made it to Aurum Island without getting yourself consumed. Good, that's a start." she muttered in her posh accent. "I'm sure you need no introduction to who I am, and frankly, that would just be wasting time."

She cleared her throat.

"As you have heard from Ms. Burakgazi here, Ambrette has been consumed by the plague, and Coumarine is pretty right fucked. I would happily exclaim how happy it makes me to use such vulgarity after playing news reporter, but we have bigger Corphish to fry here. I have formulated a plan to slow down the progress of the flesh compound, and eventually put an end to this madness."

"But....excuse me, Ms. Malva, but how?" a younger, brown haired boy piped up. "Everything we've thrown at it has just made it get bigger."

"I'm getting to that. First off, I am sure you all know of the Yggdrasil Trio, corret? Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde. The endgame is to get Yveltal to use its powers of death to eliminate the Flesh Plague from this world. But Zygarde is also going to be a crucial point in this."

"Why....Zygarde?" a rainbow-haired woman asked. "What good would they do?"

"A distraction, Ms. Belmont. The plan involves going to Terminus Cave and letting it fight off the plague, while the search goes on for Yveltal. Understand?"

"I....I guess so." Felix mumbled.

"So, do you have any other questions or pressing concerns?" Malva concluded.

In the back corner was a hooded man, sitting on a small metal chair, his head resting against the wall. He had only meant to close his eyes for just a moment. He didn't fall asleep because the meeting was boring, but because he was up the entire night desperately trying to call his wife in Laverre City. He never got through, and still held the phone in his hand as he dozed off. Also the meeting was kind of boring.

He woke up near the end of Malva's speech, completely unsure of what the plan was. Oh well, he'd ask someone later. He checked his phone again. No reply, no missed calls. Damn.

Another man, sitting next to him, turned his head at signs of Kaj's movement. He wore thick glasses, some sort of high tech eye screen it seemed like, even indoors. "Get enough sleep?"

Kaj closed his eyes again. He had only meant to join up with The Resistance, or Neo Team Flare, or whatever this group wanted to call itself again, for information. He had enough fighting in the war. But it seemed like everyone was expecting him to fight again. Really he just wanted to pack up and move somewhere else, again, but that would just be kind of rude at this point. And now Luna was unreachable.

On the other side of the room, a Neo Team Flare member with bright red hair in a ponytail stood up, watching Malva speak with intensity. "Do we know Zygarde will be able to hold off the Plague?" she asked. "I know it's very large and powerful, but the Plague spans multiple cities now. And besides, we know fire is the most effective tool against it. Dragon and Ground are... okay at best."

A young woman with black hair tied into a ponytail and black clothes stands behind a taller, copper-skinned, mustachioed man wearing a suit. He has an scar across his right eye's eyepatch and has a slender woman standing beside him. She has long, loose black hair, elbow length gloves and wears a black evening gown.

They watch as Malva's holographic figure relays information to the group.

"Yes. Are you sure that we can reach them in time? There's only so much firepower we can use on a creature like that before then." - George says.

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A dim light flickers overhead as the smell of hot tea flies through the air. A dark-skinned woman with long black hair wearing a black vest and pants sits quietly in a small living room. It is decorated with a fireplace, several soft couches and a glass table in the middle. The light from the lamp over her head shines off of her metallic right arm.

A Lopunny with a shiny gray body and black "fur" wearing an apron walks up to the woman and hands her a glass of tea.

"Thank you, Glamor." - The woman says with a small smile.

"You're welcome, miss Julia. So... what are we going to do?" - The Lopunny asks with a metallic reverb to her voice.

"Even I don't know. I'd rather not join a group of people I don't know anything about, but fleeing the country might not work in the long run..." Julia says with a grim scowl on her face.

"Take your time."

"I'm not sure we even have much time left..."

Julia lets out a deep sigh as the robotic Lopunny walks out of the room.

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A fair-skinned young woman with long pink hair and white clothes sits praying beneath a skyscraper-sized tree. Beside her is a brown-haired young man with orange highlights wearing a blue jacket and black pants. Multiple forest Pokemon surround them and direct worried glances at the girl.

"Madam Xerneas, we have to keep going. We have to keep warning people about that... monster." - She says.

A deep, womanly voice echoes through the air in response.

"Of course, my child. It is, after all, a perversion of my powers..."

"Are you okay, Serra? You've been going at this for hours." - The man asks.

"Don't worry about me, Allen. Just stay close to me and catch me if I fall, alright?" - Serra says with a strained smile.

"Jeez, don't kill yourself with this..." - He says as he crouches down to her.

"Zygarde is stronger than you know. It has the Aura Break ability and since the plague is imbued with the powers of Xerneas, the power of its Fairy Aura will weaken substantially." Malva said. "And if we can reach them in time... I must admit I'm not certain... but it's our only shot."

Drogo said nothing, but his gears were turning. Yveltal Energy would bring it down easily... like the Ultimate Weapon... but his superiors would definitely find his idea unacceptable. Maybe if no one had to die...

"I understand everything, Ms. Malva." Felix said. "And I think your idea is our best shot."

"Thank you. Now, any dissenters?" Malva asked with a tiny glare in her eyes.

"No dissenters." Azurra glared around the room, and one could swear the shadows around them shifted. "Our objective is clear, ma'am. We will set forth from Aurum Isle to Terminus Cave as soon as possible while your men continue to research the whereabouts of Yveltal."

"I will accompany them at your orders, Commander." The woman known as Natela saluted. "On the honor of the Kalosian Army."

One woman in the room, an older-looking ginger, frowned. "Can we be assured that the Plague will not hurt either Legendary? My personal qualms aside, if the Plague is allowed to take on that much power..." She tapped her fingers together. Mostly, she thought, she would rather not see Yveltal hurt. But to tell them why would cause quite an interesting stir.

"Rather assured, Dr. Smith. Zygarde's Aura Break should disable the Plague's ability to absorb other beings including itself, long enough to bring Yveltal to the origin point."

"And when you wish to dissuade Zygarde to put Yveltal's powers to use?"

"Either by means of tentative capture or communication."

Kaj sighed. He seriously did consider dissenting, but so much for that now. Perhaps he could meet up with Luna somewhere on his way to Terminus Cave.

Dwight meanwhile started to zone out. He was here to help fight the Plague, sure, but man these meetings were boring. He was probably just going to follow some orders anyway. The woman in blue hair, perhaps. Or the fiery looking woman on the holocaster, if she ever stopped by. It's not like he had the knowledge to comment on any of their plans.

Dwight's Beheeyem nudged his shoulder.

"Sorry sorry, I'm paying attention." He looked to Azurra, then to the short red-head beside her. They seemed like interesting people.

Serafina shifted her weight. "Hope it's communication," she muttered. Capturing a Pokemon such as Zygarde seemed... difficult. Besides, probably not a plan the Pokemon would agree with.

"Oh, uh... my big sister Serra has connections with Xerneas. So we could probably convince Yveltal or Zygarde with their help." - Luna says with a sweat.

A purple Braixen wearing a black coat nudges Luna with his shoulder.

"How successful would that be, though? As far as the other two are concerned, they might think the flesh monster was done out of spite." - The Braixen scowls.

"You have a point, Dan, but at the same time I don't think this is the best time to be a pessimist." - Luna grimaces.

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The robotic Lopunny returns to the kitchen and is greeted by an Emolga, a Shedinja, a Diancie and a Zangoose. They all have grim looks on their faces and are gathered around a wooden table.

[Song I would use here: Secret Conversation]

"... So you're saying that I'd get swallowed up by it no matter what I do? How are we supposed to get rid of it, then?" - The Zangoose scowls.

"I have ranged attacks, but with how it keeps growing..." - The Diancie says with a hand to her forehead.

"Man, this is really messed up. I didn't expect the world to be end while I was still a kid." - The Emolga says with his head down.

"Come on, Spark. There has to be a way to kill it. There has to be..." - The Diancie sighs.

"... We have to have faith in miss Julia." - The Shedinja whispers.

Glamor walks over to the table and hands all four Pokemon a cup of tea.

"Thank you, miss Glamor." - The Diancie says with a polite tone.

"Hey, thanks. This'll make me feel a little better... I guess." - Spark says as he takes a sip.

"No problem, darling. Personally, I feel like helping out the people who want to get rid of this monster... But Julia refuses to do so. I can't say I blame her, really." - The robotic Lopunny says as she sits down with them.

"So it's either escape or risk our lives helping potential scumbags... Sounds like we're screwed either way, hah." - Spark says with a somber smile.

"How interesting...." Malva said, looking at Luna curiously, "Maybe convincing Serra would be the best course of action to take right now.....but what if it fails...."

Malva appeared deep in thought.

"You there, contact your sister." Malva said. "The rest should head out on the way to Terminus."

Malva looked around at the group, her gaze stopping at Dwight and scowling a bit.

"Notify me if anything goes wrong with the plan..." Malva finished.

And the Holocaster shut off.

Dwight felt his stomach drop when Malva scowled directly at him. What was that about? She must have heard him mutter to Elysium after dozing off. But boy it made his skin crawl for a second. Geez, Malva must have intimidated him more than he thought.

Dwight got up to stretch. He kicked Kaj's boot to get a stir out of him. "Come on, time to go."

Kaj sighed. "Well, I guess hunting down a legendary Pokemon isn't the worst thing in the world," he said. "Hopefully it shouldn't be too much of a fight. Hell, maybe miss Dragon Whisperer can just walk up and convince the thing to go fight for us."

"She can do that?" Dwight asked. "That's neat."

"She convinced Lance's Dragonite to bite off his master's head. I think she can handle a giant Earthy Dragon." Kaj paused and scratched his chin. "You know, when you phrase it like that I wouldn't mind trying to capture it myself. Some kind of Ground... Wyrm. I'd like to have one of those..."

"Keep dreaming bro."

"The boat to Coumarine will be setting off as soon as we're all prepared. Anyone coming with me will be provided with a hazmat suit, fitted to size. But before that, let's take a moment to get acquainted, hm? After all, we're going to be working together, it'd be best if we knew each other, right?" Azurra scanned the gathering. "Starting from... you, Agent Blackwood, and working our way clockwise. Your name and a little bit about yourself."

The small woman with the cinnabar hair jumped up from sort of giving Kaj a look, a bit startled. "Oh! Er... I'm... Zora Blackwood, I like dragons, and video games, and... stuff... I got caught up in the war and locked into the same cell as Ms. Sullivan so I guess that's why I'm here..."

"Now now, and here I thought you were introducing yourself with a hyphenated name lately."

"Th-that doesn't come till later... does it?"

"Ahem." The blond woman cleared her throat. "First Lieutenant Natela Burakgazi of the Kalosian Army at your service. Deployed to aid in war efforts, recalled when the conflict was already over with. Tasked with the defense of Ambrette Town after the rise of the Plague, but unfortunately my battalion has fallen."

"Thank you, Lieutenant.  Next?"

"My name is George Teracruz and this is my wife, Mercedes Teracruz. We are the Frontier Brains of the Battle Charnel located on Aurum Island." - George states as he shoots a sharp glare at Azurra.

"Likewise, this is our daughter Luna. Battling has been in our family for generations, so she's been fighting with Pokemon ever since she was a child. We're both very proud of her, as you can probably tell." - Mercedes smiles as she puts a hand on Luna's shoulder.

Luna waves at Azurra with an embarassed grin.

"Our adoptive daughter Serra had warned us that there was something evil rising up in mainland Kalos and that it had Xerneas's energy attached to it. She told us to go with the people that were the most likely to help, so here we are." - George remarks with a stoic expression.

"There's also my friend Allen. He's... uh... another really good trainer, but right now he's with Serra to make sure they can telekinetically contact people and warn them of the plague." - Luna says with a gulp.

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Julia puts her empty cup of tea down on the table and walks into the kitchen.

"I'm going to regret this, but we might not have any other choice. Let's join up with that group of people." - She says with a reluctant frown.

The Pokemon in the room jump up at her decision.

"You sure, miss Julia? It could be dangerous." - Spark says with a worried tone.

"I'm well aware of that. Honestly, it'd be better than escaping from place to place while that thing consumes landscapes. Pack up your things and let's go." - Julia remarks with a sharp look in her eyes.

She walks out of the kitchen while the Pokemon look on in awe.

"... At least it's a good thing she doesn't mope around." - Valor says.

"Pack up our things? She's talking like we're going to move anyway!" - Spark sneers.

"Please, Spark. Miss Julia knows what she's doing. Come on!" - Carmille sighs as she grabs him by the arm.

Glamor giggles as Carmille drags Spark out of the room.

"I am Felix Belmont, a member of Team Neo Flare." Felix said. "Pretty high-ranking too. .....These two are members too."

She motioned to Drogo and Neko.

"Ah, yes, I'm Drogo Travers. I work as a scientist. So... if you guys need anything in that regard..." Drogo drawled.

Can't tell them about this idea, it's too risky. I'll have to make an escape to Lumiose if the attempt to capture Yveltal fails..... he mused to himself.

"And... uh... I'm Neko... I... I kinda do odd jobs? I can infiltrate things if that is somehow needed... heheh." Neko laughed nervously.

He heard a small chuckle from the back of the room. Looking back, he saw his Absol looking back, smirking.  Neko glared, which only made the Absol chuckle harder. Neko sighed.

"Sorry about Evan..." Neko muttered. "He can be... a bit... abrasive? Is that the word... but whatever, you'll get used to him. Maybe he's overleveled... I mean I was never much of a badge guy... I mean that could explain things."

Evan grunted and began preening himself.

Serafina patiently waited for her turn. She stood up straight and spoke as if being commanded.

"My name is Serafina Eldagil," she said. "Member of Neo Team Flare. I primarily work as soldier and guard, and I'm currently training up Fire types to help fight against the Plague."

She sat down, and there was an awkward pause as the next man didn't realize it was his turn to speak.

"Oh, uh, hi. I'm Kaj. I fought in that war thing a couple years ago. And... now I'm here." Kaj trailed off a bit on that last part.

Next was Dwight. He waved to the group.

"My name's Dwight," he said. "I... well, I'm not that special. I was just visiting Kalos for a trip. But then I heard about this killer Plague thing and figured I could help? I got this super bulky Magmortar. Guy will light a whole acre on fire in seconds I tell ya."

The Beheeyem by Dwight's shoulder stayed silent.

The ginger woman came after her, taking a small bow before the group. "Dr. Zorana Smith, chief medical examiner for the Viridian City coroner's office. Brought along by Ms. Sullivan for my medical knowledge, and also for my mentor. You see, my mentor as I was but a young upstart, I learned later in my life was none other than an aspect of Yveltal himself. I was asked to come to Kalos to aid in locating him."

Then, finally, the younger blonde girl, who until this point, had been idly tracing patterns into her arms, which stuck there and even went as far as glowed when she traced them over. "Mmm? Ah, yes. Katarina LeClaire, daughter of Jade LeClaire, a veteran in the war. We were moved to Kalos because my mother needed a break, desperately. Unfortunately, we chose Geosenge to live in. My family was able to evacuate, although I was not left without my marks.

"Namely, I am one of the few to escape having been touched by the scourge. I cut myself free as it attempted to assimilate me, although the damage has been done, in a sense. I wonder if it's less damage, and more... an odd blessing. Perhaps from Xerneas." At about this point, she poked through her skin a little too hard, leaving a hole right through, as if she had poked through a ball of putty. "...fascinating."

"I'll spare you all my introduction," Azurra said flatly, "and get straight to the point. Now that we all know each other, I want everyone willing to accompany me on the voyage to Terminus Cave to take a look at the suits in that closet there. Find one that fits you, and make sure you have everything you'll need. By now, Coumarine will be on the verge of consumption. We'll need to be swift."