A/N:

Skittlinq: Skittlinq is typing…

SD: Totally called it. Then again, it's bound to happen when two out of the three- no, four, of us kickstarted yet another SYOC story for yet another different fandom, so oh well.

Emo: Meeeeeep. It's been around three weeks since our last update. Oops. Well, wait no longer, 'cause here it is! And I think you'll be glad to know the first half is 80% Skittlinq! Sorry if it seems to drag on at first, or if Ariel seems whiny. At the very least, I hope she's interesting, or relatable. And the fact she isn't one of those veins-of-steel, super determined, don't-feel-pain kind of protagonists should be a refreshing change.

I couldn't have done this without the rest of the gang, so many thanks, as always. AND LET'S GIVE A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR MAGNIFICENT BETA, COMETSHADOW! :D

She's been a great help, really. :)

But I think I've stalled long enough, so without further ado, here's chapter two!

(…that rhymed.)

(I'm a poet, don't you know it?)

Chapter Two: Run

Reading is one form of escape.

Running for your life is another.

- Ariel -

It was always the same dream. A retelling of what happened that day, a requiem for the lives lost. It played in black and white, like a film without sound, with only the faint buzzing in the background to indicate that it was nothing more than a memory. The only other colour was red. Red for the blood spilt, red like the badges the Blitzers had pinned to their chests.

I was running. But I didn't know why I was running… and I was a six-year-old again, clinging to a toy teddy-bear, sobbing hysterically.

Perfect. Even in my nightmares, I'm embarrassing myself.

There were gunshots that only got louder with every step I took. Everything seemed to blur past me. I heard footsteps… were they following me? I couldn't tell. The adrenaline from the fear dulled my senses.

Run. Don't stop.

Running was what my school teacher instructed me to do. That was the only thing on my mind. There was sweat on my forehead, my platinum-blonde hair sticking to it. My breathing was ragged, and my throat hurt. A part of me knew that it was a dream… but everything felt so real.

Don't stop until they leave. Run. Hide.

...And who were...'they'?

My schoolteacher always praised me for being obedient. I would have kept running, until my shoes wore out and my feet were sore. But I couldn't.

More specifically, I tripped.

Suddenly, my foot hit something hard. Yelping, I flew forward, the teddy bear flying out of my hands. It landed a few feet in front of me, sprawled on the floor on top of a white pile of its own stuffing, the sewn smile on its face unchanged.

Gravity, 1; Ariel Castor, 0.

Naughty girl, I imagined my teacher saying. Why didn't you run?

That was where the dream would get vivid. Then the sounds grew louder, the footsteps moved faster, and the trees regained their autumn colours.

Then the screams started. But… Were they my screams?

My fear intensified. My heart pounded in my chest, my breaths becoming quicker and shallower- the world my nightmare had created spun and blurred.

Then I would start to realize… I would remember that it all wasn't real. I was just living in a memory: a nightmare that's been haunting me since the incident at Lavaridge. I'd tried scrunching my eyes, pinching myself, hitting myself… anything to wake up.

It didn't work. It never worked.

The footsteps stopped. A shadow towered over me. There was a pointed shape in his hand… a click.

A gun…?

I scrunched my eyes, bracing myself.

Nothing happened. I couldn't tell how long I had my eyes shut for. I was busy praying for a painless death.

It didn't come.

"Ariel! Get up!"

It was my schoolteacher's voice.

Somewhere off in the distance, she was shouting. I could tell by looking at the shadow that the figure behind me had turned around, the gun in his hand no longer pointing at me.

"Ariel!" she shouted again.

Her passionate voice fueled me, and suddenly, the will to live filled my entire being. I was an obedient schoolgirl, and I was expected to obey the teachers without question.

"What are you doing? Get up! Run! Ariel!" she pleaded, bordering hysteric.

That was her last lesson for me.

Get up. Run.

I scrambled up and took off, jumping over my toy, not bothering to pick it up.

That toy. That toy that my father had given me the night before he vanished. That toy that gave me comfort in raging storms, when my room was too dark to move around in. It's comforting, sewn smile unchanging, no matter how bad I felt, and I left it in the dust. That last testament to my childhood, the only surviving evidence of the life I lived before.

And I left it there to rot.

"Ariel!"

There was a gunshot. A scream. A loud thud.

Then it was just my heavy breathing, as I ran.

Ariel…

My teacher's voice echoed through my mind.

Run… Ariel…

My vision blurred.

Ariel…

Her voice seemed different… it was more shrill.

"Ariel!"

Something cold splashed onto my face. My eyes flew open, and I shot up from my position, sputtering out the water.

"Wake up!"

For a second I didn't move. I let my vision clear and watched as the hazy light gave way to the solid, bare room I called home. Waiting for my pulse to settle, the sunlight filtering through the window, chasing off any memories of my nightmare.

Once I shook off the nightmare, any fear I felt was now replaced with hollow anger. How dare she interrupt my knee-shaking, downright terrifying nightmare!

...That was sarcastic, by the way.

"W-what the hell was t-that f-for?" I demanded, my teeth chattering.

A red-headed girl was standing over me, looking down on me with her green eyes, a playful smirk on her lips. In her hands was a worn-out, plastic bucket, half-filled with what looked suspiciously like rainwater.

Cold rainwater.

I sneezed. "Thank you for that positively lovely wake-up call."

Vivi, one of the few people left in this world that I could call a friend, grinned. "You're welcome. You were making a lot of noise in your sleep."

I blinked. "Was I now?"

Vivi's solution every time that happened: Throw a bucket of water onto my face to wake me up. It never failed, so she stuck to that method. Typical.

"Yeah! Like this." She made a pathetic, whimpering sound that sounded like a starved Growlithe begging for treats. "See?"

"Right," I said flatly, unimpressed. I gave myself and the room a once-over- one, two, three, four limbs, room not demolished, knife on the table… Everything seemed to be in perfectly good order. Yawning, I began to relax.

Vivi's efforts to imitate me were appreciated, but… How could she be so carefree? We were the only escapees from Lavaridge, meeting up hours after the Blitzers had left the city with the "infected" inhabitants chained up... or dead.

But, then again, my parents had both been killed, and her parents weren't even infected… just taken. Maybe she was one of the lucky ones that were immune to the Delta Virus.

That still didn't tell me if her bubbly self was sincere, or if it was just a facade.

… Or maybe it was just her own way of dealing with the way things had turned out.

Vivi looked outside the small cut-out that we called a window. The treehouse was high in a sycamore tree, overlooking the ravaged land below. Dust and soot had replaced what we once called grass, and the small buildings which people once lived in were now reduced to rubble.

The leaves mainly shielded our 'home' from the casual eye, but it wasn't hard to find if you looked closely. I shivered as a breeze came in, whether from the actual breeze or the fear that the Blitzers were searching for me, I didn't know.

The Blitzers and their ash-grey weapons, designed to stun and electrocute. The Blitzers, with their red badges and their strength and their disregard for life and their cruelty and their-

Liars liars killers they kill kill kill-

Ariel run run run RUN-!

Click. Bang!

I'm sorry teacher I tripped-

"Hey! The sky's all clear!" Vivi's voice cut through my thoughts.

I tore myself away from the window and back into the room. "Don't say it, don't say it, don't say it..." I murmured, but my hand was already reaching for my knife, almost as if it had its own mind.

"Which means, we can go out today!"

The instant she said that, I wanted to curl up and go back to my dream.

But I suppressed the urge to run away. Not this time, Ariel. Do it for Mom. For Dad. For Mrs. Villoria.

Going outside, well, it wasn't exactly something I was good at, and the fact that friends were something in scarce supply in my life didn't help.

The treehouse sort-of became a "safe zone" for me. It had survived through the chaos of Lavaridge's break-down; it had lived through the skirmishes between the Blitzers and the people like m. It had witnessed the deaths of countless of soldiers in the war between Johto and Hoenn. If this great oak could survive that long, what would stop it from protecting me?

Still, I was leaving. I had to. And I would, like it or not.

Vivi leaned out of the tree and began the precarious climb down our safehouse. "C'mon, Ariel! We don't have all day!"

I swung my legs out of our tree house and followed her down. My hands and feet ghosted over its bark efficiently, trained from years of scaling the tree. My shoes fit into every foothold, hands slipped easily into any cracks in the wood.

"Do you even know where we're going?" I asked once we reached the bottom.

Vivi's energetic mood faltered. "...Um."

My palm flew to my forehead. Leave it up to Vivi to come up with a plan. "The town, right? There's a carnival this week, I think."

She brightened up instantly. "Yeah! That's right! We can go sneak in, maybe borrow some money, y'know?!"

I nodded slowly. "That's a start, at least…"

Vivi lead the way, bouncing off towards the road, while I walked a pace behind, trying to untangle the bed-hair I'd received from sleeping on it. My eyes warily scanned the area as we walked, keeping watch. Arceus knows Vivi couldn't keep an eye out for danger if her life depended on it.

Which it did, unfortunately. The trees were withered, most of them reduced to stumps, nothing but the large ones surviving. The grass was dead and dry, and there wasn't a Pokemon in sight. People say something much bigger happened here than the disease; the chaos of rushing Blitzers and soldiers battling couldn't have done this much damage.

Me? I say it did. If it could kill my family, my classmates, my teacher, then why the heck could it not take nature with them?

Vivi's waving hand brought me out of my thoughts. "Earth to Ariel, are you there? C'mon, let's go!"

I froze, and my hand instinctively went for the knife stored in the back pocket of my jeans. I was always caught off-guard in moments like this. I froze like a freaking Deerling in the headlights, and my mind raced through the top ten easiest ways to justify that this was a bad idea.

But whatever. We're going to do this. This time, I'm not running.

I nodded. "Let's do this."

Nobody really pays attention to you when you're living- or at least, pretending to live -in a war-ravaged town. Everyone's heads were kept low, their eyes shifting over to your face but not quite reaching your eyes, flickering toward them just before they turn away. I've got my own problems to attend to, their gazes said. No need to worry 'bout those teenagers over there.

Studying people's faces was something I do often (at least back in the day where I met other people besides Vivi), but I tried as much as possible not to do it in this town.

Did your parents die, too? I'd think after glancing at a grade-schooler's worried face.

Were your children taken away? Do you miss them? The thought would pop into my head when I walked past a downhearted couple.

Vivi seemed right at home here- in a town, with actual, living, breathing people. Her red hair bobbed up and down with every step, a playful grin on her face. Just like a regular, proper human being.

If there's one thing I'll give her credit for, it's her ability to belong.

And also her pickpocketing skills.

"Oh, excuse me!" Vivi bumped into a distracted teen wearing earphones, the charming smile never leaving her face- even when her hand sneaked into his back pocket and pulled out a few crumpled pokedollars.

I followed Vivi down a street, and she nudged her chin toward a businessman wearing a rather expensive suit. He was talking on the phone, a briefcase swinging from his free hand.

I took off at a half-sprint, on a collision course straight for the businessman. He didn't notice me until it was too late.

"Yes, I'll be shortly- oomph!"

Bullseye.

"Oh! I'm so sorry sir! I didn't see you there, and-"

He waved me off. "No, it's fine, it's fine, just get out of the way!"

Vivi came running into the scene. "Sandy! You are such a klutz! I'm really sorry sir, my sister's always bumping into things," she said, patting him reassuringly on the shoulder.

When he left, I elbowed her. "'Sandy'?"

She smirked. "You did always complain about me using your real name…"

We headed for an alleyway between a closed-down barber shop and a presumably closed down- or at the very least, without any customers or visible staff -cafe.

Vivi emptied the contents of our loot - a total of five thousand pokedollars, a bubble-gum wrapper (how'd that get there?) and a pair of rusty coins. Not the best we've done, but we would manage.

"Huh." She frowned, taking a peek into the wallet. "You'd think rich people would carry more cash in their wallets."

"It's called having a bank account," I said, picking up the money (and leaving the wrapper). "Plus, do you really think anyone would carry a lot of cash in a place like this?"

"Good point. Now, let's eat!"

"Okay. This should be enough for a half-decent lunch, assuming there are any restaurants open."

Vivi tapped her chin. "Well, there's always that place between that 'haunted house' and the ex-military bunker."

I stuffed our earnings inside my pocket. "Sounds perfect."

"We'll have two of those ham-and-cheese sandwiches," Vivi said as we sat down at our table, after entering the restaurant. The waiter nodded and left to collect our food.

"So far, so good…" Vivi grinned, punching my shoulder playfully.

"Don't you dare jinx this!" I loudly-whispered, slapping her hand away.

"Gosh, Sandy, lighten up…" The words died on her lips as Blitzers- a whole squad of them -entered the restaurant.

My mouth went instantly dry. I didn't dare to breathe, just slowly shifting my face away from their line of sight.

They sat down at the large table diagonally across from us. One of them raised a hand. "We need a menu over here, please."

"Yes, sir," the waiter, who was carrying our sandwiches, squeaked, before setting them down at our table and rushing for a menu.

Vivi did an incredibly good job at ignoring the fact that murdering, heartless Blitzers were less than six feet away from us.

I didn't even touch my sandwich, before raising my hand. "Um. Can we have our bill, please? We're gonna have to make mine to-go, thank you."

A waitress gave me a confused look, but she left to meet our needs.

"That will be four thousand, six-hundred and forty pokedollars," she said once she returned, holding a paper disposable bag.

I put in my sandwich, and paid the exact amount. Vivi and I stood up, did our best to leave the scene quietly.

"Hey-"

I didn't look back - just broke out in a sprint. Run run run run run run run-

"-you forgot to leave a tip!"

...Whoops.

"Wait a minute…Hey, come back!"

It was my nightmare all over again. Run. Don't stop.

Dashing out of the restaurant, Vivi and I followed our usual procedure when it came to escaping - always go left. We raced down the street, before coming to an intersection.

"There they are! Get 'em!"

Run-

"Quick, Ariel, in here!"

Don't stop-

My arm was dragged off, and before I knew it, we were in a shop. I only managed a quick glance at its name - 'Sweets Candy and Confectionary' - before I was unceremoniously thrown over the counter, and landed below the cash register.

Vivi landed right beside me, and the two of us kept our head down, listening out for the Blitzers.

"Oi, Geoffrey, which way did the girls go?"

"Hell if I know! I thought you were watching them!"

"Shut up, idiots! Just split up! If anyone finds them, you have my permission to kill on sight!"

"Yes, sir!"

Following the chorus of echoed voices, we heard running, and lots of it. It faded off into the distance.

"Are they gone?" I whispered to Vivi.

"They sure are." A new voice quipped from above us.

"Woah!" The two of us scrambled back. A dark green-haired, hazel-eyed guy who had to be no older than eighteen strode over to us, grinning ear to ear. "You young ladies don't happen to be Faders, do you?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

"Just blow our cover, why don't ya?" The first voice remarked. "The big H chose us for a reason, and revealing our identities ain't one of 'em."

I looked back at the first one who spoke. She looked to be about sixteen, with minty-green hair and amber eyes.

"Well now, the Blitzers don't go around chasing petty thieves, don't they? You ladies are definitely Faders," the boy responded, the smile never leaving his face. "I'm sure of it."

This time, my mouth finally decided to cooperate. "Uh… No idea what you're talking about… We gotta be going… thanks anyway-"

I began hurriedly tapping at Vivi's arm. Let's go let's go get out get OUT.

"We don't bite. Don't worry," the first one smirked, her amber eyes gleaming. "At any rate, we're friendlier than those red-badged freaks out there."

"C'mon, simple choice." He held out a hand, "Who do you trust more? Us, or their guns?"

"Neither. Now we must be going!" I yelled, hopping back over the counter and dragging Vivi with me, in a reversal of our roles entering the establishment.

"You left your sandwich, fair maidens!"

"We have bigger problems than sandwiches," I muttered, not looking back.

Pausing for a split-second to check for the presence of Blitzers, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that there were none in the present area.

"Back to the safehouse." Vivi said, from behind me. "But which way?"

"Look, it's them!"

We turned at the sound to see one of the Blitzers pointing our way from down the street. Well, at least that made our decision much easier.

"Anywhere but there!" We dashed off in the opposite direction, ducking and weaving around the common citizens.

Run. Don't stop.

Eventually, we had to slow down and catch our breath in a side road. I wasn't sure how far we had run - but it's not like anyone would pay attention to the number of blocks they'd covered when their life's on the line, right?

"Hey."

I whirled around to see where the voice came from, hoping against hope that the Blitzers hadn't caught up again.

It was a girl in her...late teens? Maybe even early twenties?

Her eyes flashed. "Head over there- the alleyway between those shops. They won't find you- or at least, it'll be harder for them to."

Do I trust her? She could be working for the Blitzers-

"Thank you miss!" Vivi practically screamed, before grabbing my arm and directing the both of us down said alleyway.

"Seriously, Vivi! That could've been a trap!"

"Would you rather know you're about to be shot at for sure, or take the possibility that maybe we would have a lowered chance at getting shot at?"

"I'd rather not be shot at all, thank you very much!"

"Well, at least that girl was right! Look, they've missed us."

I swung my head around. She was right - the Blitzers had skimmed us over and were heading for the street opposite where we were.

"That's good...Okay, keep running!" I yelled back, "We can't be far now!"

And not be far we were, as, minutes later, Vivi and I appeared on a side road leading out of the town. We were home- free!

Run. Don't stop. Run. Don't stop.

"H-Huh?! What the-"

Run. Don't stop. Run. Don't stop.

"Stop! Stop right now or I shoot!"

Run. Don't stop. Run. Don't stop. Ru-

Bang!

"AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!"

It was Vivi's scream that snapped me out of my stupor.

Run. Run. Run? RUN? RUN?

What good would it do us?

Everything seemed to slow down. Blood roared in my ears, the noise deafening.

I turned around to see Vivi slump to the ground. Her eyes were wide open, a mixture of fear and shock still dancing inside her green orbs. Her back was bloody. Red, darker than her hair, deep and rich, flowed from the wound, seeping through her clothes, dripping onto the grass lighter than her eyes.

Nothing. Nothing. All. For. Nothing.

That didn't just happen. Vivi didn't get shot. This isn't real.

Wake up wake up wake up- !

Run run RUN?

No no no no NO no-

Not real, this isn't real not real not real not real not real-

The blood continued to spread.

I felt a crack, a pull, a splinter. In my chest, something tugging on my insides. A heat washed over my body, wrapping around me. It was like my emotions decided to play tug-of-war with my heart. Everything was hazy, my eyesight blurred, and-

No NO NO NO-

Fear anger anger death DON'T DIE I'll kill them WHY-

Don't die on me- !

Wind whipped wildly around us, a storm of harsh violet spinning and whirling across the clearing, a mess of anger and fear and anxiety and sadness and everything I've ever felt since ten years ago all being released in a violent whirlwind.

I felt the power surge in my chest, a jolt of energy that sent a tingle across my scalp and all the way to my toes. I didn't know how long it lasted. The roaring of the wind and the screams of Blitzers filled my ears, the thudding of my heart only adding a beat to the madness.

And it continued for how long? Minutes? Hours? I couldn't tell.

When it was over, I collapsed on my knees, on the ground next to Vivi.

Blitzers surrounded the area, unconscious, or dead, more likely. But that wasn't my main concern.

"...Go." She whispered, her eyes already glassy, her breathing already slow. Her blood-soaked chest moved slowly, up-and-down, up-and-down, and I helplessly watched the life slowly but surely fade away from her.

"I- I'm not leaving you!" I screeched. "Don't do this, Vivi, don't talk like that!"

She stared passively at the sky, a small smile on her face. "I never really thanked you, Ariel, for letting me live with you in that treehouse."

"Vivi. Don't. Don't- do not talk like that, okay?" My hands hovered over her body, shaking, unsure what to do. Do I try to stop the bleeding? Comfort her?

She smirked, despite the situation. "I'll talk however I want, Ariel. You… you should go n-" she burst into a fit of coughing, a rattling, wet sound that vibrated through her chest. "They're...They're coming."

"What are you doing, Ariel? Get up! Run!"

"I ordered you to stay inside!" The Blitzer roared, lunging at her.

"Ariel! Get up, Ariel! Run! Run! R-"

Bang!

"Teacher!"

"No!" But she was right. Another batch of Blitzers were in the distance, and rapidly gaining ground.

"I'm not leaving you! No more running!" I couldn't hold it back anymore - the tears started running down my cheeks, dripping down my face, mixing with the red that had contaminated the dirt road.

I can't leave her. Not after all she's done for us. For me. "Vivi..."

She smiled, her eyes brimming with tears. "I'll be okay. Really. There's not much more they can already do to me, is there? Just go."

I nodded furiously, my lips forced into a tight smile. Your last thought should be a happy one. "I'll miss you. I'll miss you splashing water in my face whenever I sleep in and I'll miss your pickpocketing skills and-"

"I get it, Ariel." She smiled softly. "But you better go."

"...Okay." I stood up, and took one last look at the view- the blood pooled around Vivi, the squad of Blitzers charging toward us, and our tree house watching in the distance.

Here's another death that the great oak will be a witness to.

Run. Don't stop.

There's nothing worth stopping for anymore.

"I'll come back, I promise. I'll bury you by our tree house and I'll visit it every day. It's the least I can do."

She didn't reply. Her eyes were already shut.

Choking back a sob, I clenched my fists and took flight.

A/N:

Limeade: Lime really has nothing of note to say this chapter, other than that they were a Variel shipper. There goes that, I guess.

Emo: And there we go! Hope you enjoyed! Sorry if this is too angsty, I promise it'll get better. Soon. Hopefully. *cradles Walt & Ariel in arms* What have I done to you my poor little babies.

Bluh. We just had to showcase them during their lowest point in their lives, so you get a feel for the story world.

Other OC's introduced include:

The Twins Who Confused Ariel & Vivi from SDProductions

The Helpful Late Teens Gal from Limeade Space Doritos

Sorry, other OC's will appear ASAP. Once they get to the Academy. Which brings me to the ones we've finally decided to accept.

Our updated list consists of:

Justice and Temperance Sweets (SDproductions)

Percy and Julius Banks (Limeade Space Dorito)

Avery Ramirez (Roses for Ghosts)

Ruby Sipple (Moonspots)

Stephanie Bailey (ZorialWater)

Alastair Johannson (cometshadow)

Raiden Niles (PokeFreak45)

Kaida Lotus (TreblePlayer67)

Kaylum Randall (SentientPixel)

Albert Everhart (WesleyDragon)

Joshua Logan (The Gentleman Ghost)

SD & Limeade are MIA as of this moment; exams have been really hard on them and they're presumably fast asleep right now.

Also, here's a little bit SD wrote for y'all. It can be entirely unrelated or foreshadow some major plot; I'll leave it to you to figure it out. :3

?

"Well. Guardian material?"

"Definitely. Think we should keep an eye on her?

"Course. With any luck, she'll lead us to even more Faders."

"Then what we waiting for? Let's go after her, Justice."

"Sure, Tammy. After you."

…

…

"Also, why are we communicating with our...y'know."

"I'm chewing on gum. S'not nice to talk while you eat."

"Fair enough. Okay, she flew that way. Onwards!"

A/N:

Emo: Also, this chapter's quote goes belongs to Lemony Snicket. That's it, I guess. 'Till next time. (Hopefully we don't have to wait a whole 'nother month but no promises. Sorry. D:D)