It all happened a week ago. Silph Co. and an unknown partner claimed that they had discovered a medical breakthrough for humans. Apparently it was supposed to make us more immune to the effects of Pokemon moves, but it had gone catastrophically wrong. The first test subject - me - received no ill effects, and they were delighted at the results. Soon after, they were administering it to everyone. But three days after the first batch went out; several people began showing some odd symptoms. Disfigured limbs, rotting flesh, and loss of intelligence were some of the symptoms. Worse cases began eating flesh - human or otherwise, and developing tentacles where their arms should be. Everyone was terrified. A state of emergency was declared and panic quickly spread and everything fell apart from there. Now, a week after the discovery, there were no survivors. Oh sure, there were people, but you could hardly call them as such anymore. Even Pokemon had run away from all human populaces and had gone into hiding. Any uninfected human was a potential meal or just another ticking time bomb of the virus. If there were survivors, I haven't met anyone who was either uninfected or immune. I was one of the lucky ones - if there was anyone left. All I had left was my Gardevoir. But even she wanted to escape this terror and hide from it all. Luckily for me, I had convinced her that if we were to survive in this new world, we would have to exterminate the virus.

*Flashback*

"We have to do this."

'I can't. I don't want to be near any of this!'

"Afraid of becoming infected?"

'That's one reason.'

"No Pokemon can be infected by that thing. After all, it was synthesized from a combination of Pokemon and human DNA."

'That doesn't make me feel better.'

"How's this then. If I die, then you can run off to where ever you desire. I'll even keep you out of your Pokeball."

'...Okay. But I still don't like this.'

"I'll protect you. I promise. But if we're going to eliminate the virus, then you're going with me all the way, deal?"

'Deal.'

*End Flashback*

So far, everything had gone according to plan - despite the fact that I had no plan at all. I had taken whatever weapons and ammunition I could scrounge from every armoury and police station we came across. I had even been bold enough to break into some houses for food and supplies whenever we ran low. We haven't run across any infected humans yet, but that was mainly because they were all concentrated in the cities, and we were out in the smaller towns and villages. But even so, I couldn't take any chances as I hefted the automatic shotgun I had acquired a few towns back. Somehow, nobody ever thought of killing the infected. I guess that they wanted to see if they could be cured. So that left a large stash of weapons at local towns with nobody protecting them - or any uninfected townspeople.

'Daemon?' Gardevoir asked, breaking my thoughts.

"Hmm?"

'Where are we going next?'

"I suppose we don't have any choice. We have to go to the nearest city and find any survivors - if there are any."

'But,' she started, grabbing my arm, 'You said earlier that we wouldn't have to unless there was no other way!'

I chuckled. "I just said there was no other way. We have to eliminate the virus, and that means going into a city to find out what the hell happened."

Honestly, the fear radiating from her was almost visible. I guess that's what you sense after a few years alone with a Psychic-type. Despite that I was a trainer, and I did have several other Pokemon available at my disposal, I always preferred having the company of my Gardevoir. She always comforted me and I comforted her in times of need. Despite our many differences, you could almost say we were siblings - others would say we're a couple - but then again, that was still forbidden in the Four Regions that made up our world - or what was left of it.

A rustle shook us from our thoughts. I whipped around; wielding the shotgun like it was no lighter than a pistol and found out that the rustle was no more benign than a loose piece of newspaper. We chuckled nervously, our own minds frayed from almost two days without sleep. We were getting restless - all from wondering whether we would be attacked out of nowhere. I was honestly hoping that we would get attacked so that we could get it out of the way and continue with our mission.

'How far away is the next city?' Gardevoir asked me.

"Far enough that we need transportation, or else we'll be out here for a long time," I replied.

She shivered and moved closer to me. Although she could protect herself quite well, it seemed as though all thoughts of self-defense were thrown out the window. I doubted that I could defend us both if a hoard of infected came at us, but that remains to be seen. We began to search for vehicles that still had their keys in the ignition. Cars and trucks littered the roads, but most of them had been left without their keys - proving that the uninfected still thought of securing their vehicles - before they became one of them.

Just before nightfall, our luck turned. A small coupe on its side still had the keys in the ignition, but it would require all my strength to just move it a few inches back on its tires.

"Gardevoir, can you flip this car back on its wheels?"

'Yes, I'm sure I can.'

Her eyes glowed a beautiful purple-blue colour and the car slowly rotated back on all four tires with a slight squeak from the rubber. Wait, did I just say her eyes were beautiful? I shook the thought from my head and opened the driver's side door. More luck. It seemed as though the car had at least a half-tank of fuel - just enough to get us within city limits.

"Get in. This is our ticket to town," I said.

Reluctantly, she got in the passenger seat, unsure of what might happen. As a trainer, I never took vehicular transport unless absolutely necessary. And even then, I usually kept my Pokemon in their Pokeballs unless I was challenged to a battle. I started the car up, and she almost leapt out of the vehicle, the poor girl. After coercing her back in, we sped off along the rural highway. Any signs of life were only the Pokemon that wanted to get away from the populace. I noticed a few trainer's Pokemon, only identifiable by the fact that they were foreign and fully evolved. They all stared, watching the only vehicle in operation speed past, its occupants heading toward the very place they ran away from.

An hour passed by, seemingly gone in an instant. Time seemed to fly now that there was nothing keeping it in check. It was then that the car sputtered, scaring the living hell out of the pair of us. I glanced down at the fuel gauge, and saw that it was empty. I hadn't even noticed that the light had gone on. After sputtering some more, the engine died and we coasted, waiting for the speed to bleed out. It was only after a few seconds of coasting that the coupe came to a sudden halt, making both of us bash our skulls against the dashboard - me completely forgetting to fasten the seatbelts. After regaining our senses, we looked out the windshield. Whatever the car struck, it caused a large dent in both the hood and the glass.

'What'd we hit?' Gardevoir asked, fear in her voice.

"No idea. Stay here, I'll go check it out," I replied, grabbing the shotgun from the back seat and easing out of the useless hunk of metal that was the coupe.

Peering out, I couldn't see anything, as it had already gotten pitch black, and the object we hit knocked out both headlights.

"Damn, can't see a thing," I muttered to myself. As if on cue, a bright blue orb appeared next to me and I blinked, trying to get the sudden brightness out of my eyes.

"Thanks Gardevoir," I called out. "But next time, warn me before doing that, okay?"

Before she could get a response out, a shuffling came from the front of the car. I pulled back the charging handle of the automatic shotgun and snapped it back into place, loading a shell into the barrel.

"Come on out," I said warily, "Nice and easy, so I don't end up shooting an innocent Pokemon."

Instead of either a human voice or a Pokemon call, there was a sudden roar, unlike anything I've heard before and the being stood with incredible speed and lifted the front of the coupe into the air. I could hear Gardevoir screaming her lungs out before the disfigured form sent the car flipping end-for-end before it landed on its roof. Fearing the safety of my only companion, I started for the overturned vehicle, but another roar made me turn back. Now I could get a proper - if not blurry - look at the thing. It was one of the worse cases of whatever took over the human species. Six and-a-half feet tall, horribly disfigured from what I could make out and several tentacles poking out of the body and I knew that if I didn't kill it, it would kill me. As the thing took a single step towards me, I pulled the trigger. Now I had a basic know-how on how to operate weapons of various degrees, but a fully-automatic shotgun, that was new to me. I ended up managing to get about three or four slugs into the beast before the weapon sent me flat on my ass, barrel pointed uselessly in the air. I scrambled to my feet, but there was no movement from anything.

'Is it okay to come out?'

"Good Arceus! You scared the crap out of me Gardevoir. How'd you get out?"

'Same way I used to get away from things when I was young. I teleported,' she replied.

"Well, I think we're close to the city, but we're going to have to walk the rest of the way now that that thing demolished our ride."

'Speaking of which, where is it?'

Looking around, I couldn't see it either.

"I shot it a few times before the recoil sent me on my ass. It must've been either scared away, or the pain made it go away. Either way, we appear to be in the clear...for now."

She clutched my arm in a death grip and huddled close. Under different circumstances, this would have been seen as an overly-affectionate Gardevoir, but obviously this was not the case.

"Don't worry. Like I promised, I wouldn't let anything harm you. The city is within our reach, so let's get there and find some shelter so we can get some sleep."

Nodding her head, she relented somewhat in her grip and we set off towards the now-deserted city. Arceus only knows what's in store for us when we get there, and I'm willing to bet that even He doesn't want a part of what has happened to us down here.

Continued in Chapter Two...
______Chapter End Notes:A/N: Daemon and his partner are seemingly the last survivors apart from the masses of Pokemon wanting to go back to the untouched safety of the wild where they can stay hidden, whereas they must go to the place where all fear to tread. But is there anyone else...?

- UBE Chie