A lone zombie shuffled down the street, letting out a long, deep moan. A gunshot rang out, and the zombie’s head splintered into a thousand pieces as crimson chunks of gore splattered the TV screen. Morena Sergei placed an Xbox controller down on the white-carpeted floor and stuck out her tongue at her friend and companion, Sam.

“Better luck next time, Sam. I told you that you can’t beat me.” The Flygon laughed.

The boy Sam turned to face her. He had short, blonde hair and stood about six feet tall; he was skinny, but well-muscled. His brown eyes burned with frustration. “You got lucky that time. You only killed five more zombies than I did.”

Sam then exited the game and returned to the console’s menu to check if his friend Bobby was online. His profile status stated that he had last been online an hour ago. “Dammit.” He muttered to himself. Sighing, he ejected the game disk labeled “Zombie Hunter” and turned off the game system. The television began to play the evening news.

Smiling, Morena said, “You’re tired of getting your ass kicked already?

Shooting her a dirty look, Sam growled, “No, I’m just tired of you being a sore winner.”

“Geez, sorry. I didn’t know you were that sensitive.”

Sam didn’t reply, but looked outside his apartment window. The sun had already set, and it was dark outside. It was probably cold, too.


Morena looked at him, and then outside of the building. “Hey, I’m hungry. Are you making dinner soon?”

Getting up from the carpet, he said, “Yeah, hold on. Let me see what we’ve got.” He wasn’t sure if they had anything in the apartment that was substantial enough for an evening meal, and he knew that Morena being a Flygon meant that she had a monstrous appetite. How she was so slim, he didn’t know.

Sam entered the small kitchen that contained a rather dinky counter with a stainless steel sink built in. A small two-person table sat directly underneath a windowsill where one could peer out at the Eterna skyline; their tenth-story apartment provided an excellent view. In the corner sat a white refrigerator that sat on a sparkly clean white tile floor, which in no way complemented the dull blue walls.

He pulled on the refrigerator door, which activated the dull yellow light that lit the interior. Inside, Sam only spotted a half-full quart of Moo-Moo milk and a couple sticks of butter. The Remoraid casserole he had made the previous night had mysteriously disappeared…

“Hey, Morena! Did you eat the casserole that was in here?” He called into the adjoining room.

“I ate it while you were at Bobby’s house the other day.” She said sheepishly. Morena couldn’t join them, as she hadn’t been feeling well that day.

“The whole thing?”

Morena blushed a little. “Yeah, the whole thing.”

Sam smacked his forehead in frustration. “I guess it’s your lucky night. We’re going out.”

The Flygon suddenly became excited. It wasn’t often that the two went out to eat because of Sam’s stinginess; when they did go out though, he typically spent a lot.

“Do you want to eat at the mall?” Sam asked.

“Sure. Maybe we’ll see Bobby and Flara there.” Morena said as she walked into her room to change clothes.

Grabbing a wad of Pokedollars, Sam replied, “ Maybe. They might be at a PRO meet or something.” Stuffing them in his pocket, he continued, “I guess I’ll call them on the way there.”

A few seconds after he finished speaking, a high-pitched beeping sound came from the television set. Annoyed by the sound, Sam walked over to the TV to turn it off, but before he pressed the button, something caught his attention. The words “Emergency Broadcast” were written at the bottom of the screen contained inside a blue bar. Sam watched the screen with curiosity until an anchorman appeared, standing in front of what looked to be the front of the Eterna Forest.

“Hello, this is Francis McCreary for SNN bringing you a special Emergency Report. According to some sources, many rouge Pokemon have entered Eterna City, viciously attacking anyone in sight and in extreme cases actually partially eating their victims. This message will repeat itself every hour until 10:00 PM. Again, all Eterna City residents should stay inside their homes until the Pokemon Rescue Organization handles the situation.”

The image of the reporter changed to a clip of a large twitching Pokemon crouched over something with a large CENSORED bar over it; blood soaked the white concrete ground around the fallen body. The attacker seemed to be completely devoid of skin, muscles rippling and gleaming in the sunlight. It suddenly turned towards the camera, opening its jaws in a threatening snarl, and pounced. The image then distorted and the image went black. After a few seconds, the normal evening news began to play once again.

Instead of behaving concerned, a small smile spread across his lips. “Hah, that’s funny. Do those guys seriously expect people to buy this crap?” he said to himself. Extending his arm, he shut off the TV.

Emerging from her room, Morena asked, “Hey, did you say something?” Sam couldn’t help but notice how tight her sweater was.

Pausing for a second before he spoke, he replied, “No, it’s nothing. Just some stupid news report on SNN.”

“Huh, ok. You want to go now?”

“Sure.” Sam said, smiling.



---



The Eterna City Mall was first built after the destruction of the Team Galactic Office building in 2007. The interior was smartly decorated and contained two floors that extended to each side of the rectangular-shaped mall. Shops and stalls were lined up along the walls where cell phone marketers pestered innocent shoppers. A beautiful glass ceiling was suspended above the mall supported by triangular-shaped steel support beams. However, as Sam and Morena soon noticed after entering the mall, something was slightly amiss. The mall that was usually crowded to near maximum capacity contained what couldn’t be more than two hundred shoppers.

Confused, Sam asked Morena, “Is there a festival or something tonight? There’s hardly anyone here…” The news report that he had seen before leaving suddenly came to mind, but Sam disposed the thought as quickly as it had come into his head.

Equally baffled, the Flygon replied, “No, I don’t think so. What does it matter anyway? Shouldn’t you be happy that it’s not as crowded as usual?”

“Maybe. But it’s a bit creepy with nobody in here, don’t you think?”

“Pfft. Yeah, right. I think those zombie games are getting to your head.”

Laughing a bit, Sam said, “You’re right.”

The two then ventured to the food court where they purchased some food from a PokeDiner and sat down to eat. The Diner was one of the three food shops that was actually open; the remaining ten or so remained dark and empty. As Sam was eating, he noticed something even more peculiar. Those that were in the mall seemed to warily glance about, and those who were leaving looked as if they were in a hurry to leave, shuffling towards the exits with haste.

Glancing over at his partner, he asked, “Morena, have you been hearing that stuff about EvolutionX was giving Pokemon the flu?”

EvolutionX was a new Pokemon growth-enhancing product that supposedly amped up a Pokemon’s power during an evolutionary phase that was released on the market about a week ago. Trainers everywhere were buying it; it was the hottest new supplement around.

She finished chewing a mouth full of food and swallowed. “Mmh-hmm. Maybe it has something to do with why there’s no one here.” Morena took a quick glance around the mall, and then returned to her sandwich. “The food’s good.”

Not paying attention to her last comment, Sam said, “You’re right about that EvolutionX stuff. I guess everybody around here thinks it’s a deadly disease or something.” He laughed a little, reassuring himself that the current events were not caused by the wild Pokemon mentioned in the news report.

Remembering that he was going to call Bobby, he took out his cell phone and dialed Bobby’s home phone, as he didn’t have a cell. Sam was rather curious as to what the heck was going on. The phone rang seven times, and a voice recording began to play.

“This is Robert Clarke, if you have a message, please leave it and I’ll call you back as soon as possible. If you have a message for Flara VanSandt, I’ll be sure to tell her that you called.”
After the tone, Sam began the message. “Hey Bob, it’s Sam. Me and Morena are at the mall right now and we were just wondering if you and Flara wanted to come. It’s weird, though. There’s almost nobody here even though this place is usually packed. Oh, well. Just call me back when you get home.”

Sam shut his phone after he finished the voice message. Bobby and Flara must have been doing something with their PRO Team. They were lucky… You had to have either some serious skills or some serious money to get your way into a PRO Team. Oh well, he thought, maybe he’d try out again in a year or so. His thoughts were interrupted by a dull thump that came from the glass ceiling. Putting down his half-finished sandwich, he got up from the table, leaving Morena sitting at the table to investigate the noise.

Walking to the second floor balcony, he looked up to where he thought he heard the noise. At first, he didn’t see anything, but before long the few people that were in the immediate vicinity began pointing upwards and murmuring. Then Sam saw it.

A skinless creature that looked similar to a Gliscor was perched upon the glass roof. Its pink muscle tissue reflected the light from the mall below; it looked as if it was coated in a thin film of transparent slime. Long, thin teeth protruded from its mouth that were shaped like needles. Its dead white eyes seemed to dart around as if observing the shaken people beneath. The creature then lifted a hunk of meat on the end of its arm that looked as it was once encased in a claw, and brought it down hard on a thick glass panel. Blood splattered on the sheet of glass. It had no effect.

Hissing, the creature’s brow muscles came together in a glare as it looked at its damaged muscle tissue, and then it took off into the air. Wings sprouted from its sides that looked oddly similar to a bat’s, as the thin membrane that made up the wings was semi-transparent. The Pokemon-thing then disappeared into the night.

By this time, Morena had gotten up from the table and walked over to where Sam was standing in a daze. Looking up, she asked, “What the heck was that?”

Brought out of the trance, Sam blinked his eyes and said, “I have no freaking idea. It just plopped down on the glass and tried to break it. See?”

Looking up, Morena saw the blood splatter on the glass. Her face wrinkled. “Shit, that’s nasty. Maybe some Pokemon was high on PCP or something.”

Sam shook his head. “That thing wasn’t a Pokemon. It sure was shaped like one, but if it is one, that sure as hell is the freakiest Pokemon I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Peering around the mall, Morena saw that most of the people and Pokemon who had seen the creature had already fled. The Flygon stopped a nearby man who was heading toward an exit with a large bag of food in his hands. Sam watched and listened as the man stopped.

“Sorry, sir,” she began “but do you know what the heck is going on? There’s practically nobody in here even though it’s usually really crowded- and there was no one on the streets when me and my friend were walking here.” She motioned towards Sam.

The man looked at her, eyes wide. “You don’t know?”

“About what?” Sam cut in.

“About the monsters.” He whispered. “SNN has been broadcasting this stuff for the past two days.”

Sam was genuinely puzzled: the crap that was broadcast on the news station simply couldn’t be true. He was still slightly disturbed at what had happened a few minutes ago on the balcony- the creature’s ghostly white eyes was burned into his memory. Sam shook his head. “Monsters? Sorry, but do you expect me to buy that cra-

He was interrupted by the sound of a generator powering down. One by one, the rows of lights that lit the mall shut off; stores went black. As the last row of lights failed, the mall became shrouded in an ominous darkness. Isolated cries of fright began to resound throughout the mall.

Terrified, the man hissed, “Stay out of the streets, you’ll get yourselves killed!” With that, he ran toward the nearest exit.

By now, Sam was scared, and he could tell Morena was too. Morena never got scared.

The Flygon grabbed Sam by the arm and said, “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but we should get home. Now.”

Bobbing his head, he replied, “I second that.”


---


Without the usual glow of the streetlights, the roads in the city were bathed in a curtain of pitch-blackness, as no stars lit the sky on this particular night.

Sam felt the loose gravel on the street scrape against his sneakers as he cautiously walked alongside Morena. Even though it was cold outside, Sam’s skin was soaked in sweat. The sudden transition of an innocent act of eating at the mall with his friend to the disturbing encounter with the creature had scared the shit out of him.

As he walked, he looked at Morena who then placed a warm three-taloned hand on his head and ruffled his hair. She smiled at him, but looking through the transparent red lens that covered her eyes, he could tell that she was just as scared as he was. Then, a faint movement caught his eye. He stopped walking after he kicked aside an empty bottle of EvolutionX, and stared at the place he thought he saw the shifting shadow in one of Eterna’s many dark alleys.

“Morena?”

She stopped. Sam was pointing at a dark figure on the left side of a… skyscraper? “What the hell?” she whispered.

The dark shape then leaped to another building parallel to the skyscraper, and then jumped to the ground from a height of about five stories.

Morena let out a small squeak of terror as the figure impacted the ground twenty feet away from them with a sickening, wet-sounding crunch. Her hands flew up to her mouth in shock. Next to her, Sam’s jaw fell agape. Both of them looked at each other in horror and confusion at what had just happened.

Trying to gain composure, Sam slowly advanced toward the body; he saw that a black flower-shaped splatter of blood had formed on the cement around the corpse. As he got to the body and examined it, he gasped. Just like the creature that had appeared on the roof of the Eterna Shopping Mall, the corpse was completely devoid of skin, but whatever this thing was, it had to be dead. The white of bones shone in a number of places where they had been broken and speared through the creature’s muscle and tissue. It actually appeared to once be human, except now it had no skin and large, nasty-looking teeth that had sprouted from its mouth; the thing’s milky-white eyes had been covered by it’s eyelids. It had also grown six-inch claws on each of its hands. Sam turned away from the monster-thing and glanced at Morena who had stayed rooted to the spot where she was originally standing.

“What… What the hell is that thing?” He whispered.

Covering her mouth with her hand as if she was about to vomit, Morena said, “Like I know? I’ve never seen anything like that…”

Sam reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He dialed 911. After a few rings, an operator picked up.

“Hello, this is the Jocelyn from the PRO Headquarters, how may I help you?”
She sounded drained.

Slowly, Sam explained what had happened.

The operator then said, “Sir, we’re getting reports like this all over the city and our resources are getting stretched to the breaking point. Take your friend and go home immediately, and we’ll have an officer there within the next half-hour. It’s not safe outside.” With that, she hung up.

Sam shifted attention from the phone to his companion. “Morena, the operator just told us to scram. She says that stuff like this is happening all over the place, but where? Shouldn’t there be screaming and police sirens and stuff like that?”

The Flygon didn’t reply, but rather pointed her finger behind him. “Sam, behind you!”

Alarmed, Sam whirled around and jumped as he realized that the dead body had begun to twitch violently. Little fountains of black blood began to shoot out of the thing’s multiple wounds as pale white bone fragments began to push out of the creature’s body.

Walking backwards away from the body, Sam whispered, “Oh, shit.”

The creature then began to let loose feral snarls while it’s limbs began to fly through the air; loud cracking noises could be heard as it’s broken bones began to grow back at a rapid pace. Through the monster’s torn body tissue, the white of bones could be seen quickly growing back and re-attaching itself to the severed end opposite of it. The cracking then stopped, and the punctured muscles began to knit themselves back together. The entire process took about fifteen seconds.

By now Morena had begun to run toward Sam screaming, “Damn it, Sam, get the hell away from that thing!”

Sam wasn’t listening, as he was frozen with a twisted curiosity wondering how it was physically possible for the thing to repair itself. He continued to stare at the struggling figure. Then, the creature abruptly stopped.

Morena stopped ten feet short of Sam. “What the hell are you thinking?”

Stuttering, he answered, “I… I… I don’t know. How could something like that be possible?” He looked down at the monster that had now begun breathing in short gasps. Sam thought he was imagining things when the creature’s eyelids snapped open to reveal its pearly-white eyes.

It arched its back, and like a snake, the thing’s body flipped upwards so that now it was standing face-to-face with Sam. He was too shocked and scared to utter a scream. The monster then brought its clawed arm back, slowly and deliberately, and then struck Sam in the torso with superhuman speed. His body flew through the air like a rag doll, and landed like one too as he skidded to a stop twenty feet away. Sam lay motionless.

Morena stood in the street, paralyzed with raw fear. She couldn’t move, not even to help her best friend. Her chest began to rise and fall with increasing speed as she began to hyperventilate, watching the mutant-thing dash towards Sam so fast that appeared to be a blur. With inhuman savagery, the creature pounced on Sam’s body and sunk its teeth into the flesh of his arm. It shook its head from side-to-side and then with a powerful upwards motion, tore a large flap of skin off of Sam’s lower left arm. This spurred the terrified Flygon into action.

“Get away from him, you rotting fucker!” Morena screamed. She inhaled sharply, and released a powerful Dragon Pulse attack. A straight blue beam of pure energy shot from her mouth that engulfed the top half of the monster. The muscles and tissue on the thing’s head, chest, and arms began to peel away, as if being sandblasted; they were promptly followed into oblivion by the creature’s upper skeleton that quickly melted away into the raw beam of draconic energy.

The lower half of the body still stood, completely cut off at the waist, now beginning to tremble as if it were trying to find its way around without eyes or a brain. It then fell as coils of bloody entrails spilled out as wine would spill from a fallen cup.

Morena ran to Sam as fast as her legs could carry her, nearly tripping multiple times. When she got to him, his eyes were wide open, staring at the black sky above.

“Morena… I can’t feel my arm.” Sam muttered.

Cursing herself, she tore a piece of fabric from her sweater and wrapped it tightly around the grisly wound. Sam screamed as Morena performed the action. He was losing a lot of blood. She ripped off her other sleeve and wrapped an extremely tight knot around Sam’s upper arm to slow the bleeding.

Gently, she asked, “Can you stand?”

“Yeah.” He said weakly as he hauled himself off the ground. He cried out as his bad arm shifted positions.

“Hold on.” Morena said. Stripping off her shirt, she tied the ends together to make a makeshift sling for Sam’s arm. She shivered. Underneath her first shirt, she wore a plain white tee shirt; hardly warm enough for the frigid temperature outside.

After she wrapped the sling around Sam’s arm and shoulder, she said, “C’mon, we’re almost home. We better hurry before one of those things shows up again.”

Panting, Sam replied, “Yeah.” There was a certain heaviness that had seemed to place itself on his body; it felt as if it sapped his energy, making him exhausted. He wished Morena’s wings were strong enough so that she could fly the both of them home, but that would never happen. Not in a million years, though he desperately wished she could.

Leaning on Morena for support, the two friends began to slowly walk towards their home. More than a dozen silent figures cast dancing shadows in-between the buildings behind them.


---


After they had gotten home, Sam helped Morena rip apart the cabinets and the dressers with his good arm to use them for boarding up the doors and windows. The power was still off- which meant that some of those psycho freaks must have cut the power supply to the city while biting around. For light, they used candles that they had received from Ava the Garchomp and her family that lived ten floors down on the first floor.

While Morena hammered some nails into a wooden plank placed across the front door, the noise of the hammer falling was interrupted by the sound of rapid tapping noises that sounded far beneath them. The tapping continued in four short intervals, and then stopped.

“Does someone have a machine gun downstairs or something?” Sam asked.

Lining up another nail, Morena said, “Be darn lucky if they did. Maybe they’re helping Ava out, but we should stay put; she’s ten floors down, and who knows what found their way in the building.”

Quietly, Sam agreed.

After they had nailed the door shut, Sam drowsily walked over to the couch and collapsed onto it. He was so damn tired…

Morena seated herself on the couch cushion next to him. “Hey, don’t fall asleep. I heard that sometimes when someone has a bad injury, they get tired…” Her eyes began to tear up a bit as she continued. “…And they don’t wake up.”

Absently, Sam lifted his head and muttered, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Gingerly, he untied the saturated piece of cloth from his wound and observed it. Oddly enough, the deep wound that revealed exposed red muscle tissue had stopped bleeding, but even stranger was the fact that a thin film of mucus-like slime had begun to coat the wound.

Looking at the wound, the Flygon whispered, “Oh my god… We should clean that out.” She lifted herself from the couch to retrieve a bottle of alcohol.

“Shit, no.” He reached out with his right hand and grabbed her arm. “Are you crazy? Putting alcohol on this thing is gonna kill me!”

Ignoring his pleas, she shook his hand off and went into the kitchen to get the dreaded disinfectant. Sam heard her rummaging about underneath the kitchen sink.

“NOT putting alcohol on that is what’s going to kill you.” Morena said as she returned to the living room with a large bottle of alcohol in her hand. “Now hold still.”

Reluctantly, Sam slowly moved his injured arm with his right hand to where she could easily pour the alcohol on the wound. He saw her tilt the bottle, and the clear liquid began to pour out in what appeared to be slow motion. At first, Sam felt nothing. He then inhaled sharply, taking as much air in as he could. Explosively exhaling, he screamed. “AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”