15 The Whack Plague

Plague. That was Asmond's conclusion, after witnessing the events in Sceptile's territory. During his entire childhood, he couldn't remember ever having been sick and he would have thought that was incredibly strange, if it was his old world.

     In this world, it had just never crossed his mind as he was too busy training. If it had, he might have even assumed that this world just didn't have any diseases. Asmond couldn't recall ever hearing about any microscopic lifeforms in the Pokemon lore, other than Pokerus. Seeing as how Pokerus has no negative side effects, it can hardly be called a disease. All in all, he would have guessed that whatever role microbes might play in this new world it wasn't a major one, if any at all. Now, however, he was faced with an unusual set of circumstances that might just prove otherwise.

     They were heading deeper into Sceptile's territory in order to greet him but, after traveling half a kilometer, they began seeing Pokemon corpses lying scattered about the forest floor. If they had been mangled and injured, it would have still been odd, since what Pokemon after defeating his foe would just leave a perfectly good meal lying there to go to waste.

     None of corpses, however, showed any signs of struggle or violence. Pokemon typically were not scavengers and so wouldn't eat mystery corpses just lying around. If they didn't know how it died, they would usually pass it up, unless they were desperate. So the fact that these corpses were still there, after a time, wasn't that bizarre.

     The most curious thing about them was not only their number but also the state they were in. It almost seemed like they had just collapsed for no reason. Although he couldn't be sure, Asmond was beginning to have some suspicions about its potential cause.

     *Hmmm…I could be wrong but this might be some kind of Pokedisease.* Asmond suggested to Espiria. 

     *...a what? You mind elaborating a bit, you're not making any sense.* Espiria responded.

     *Oh, right. Well, do you know what a disease is?*

     *Hmmm...nope. Never heard of such a thing.*

     *Really? Now that is indeed an unexpectedly curious revelation. That being said, a disease is basically a type of status effect. Say, if you were in a battle and were paralyzed or poisoned by your opponent's move, it would be like that only it's caused by tiny microorganisms living inside your body and usually last longer.*

     *Tiny what's it's? I got the first part but then you lost me again at the whatchamacallems.*

     *Actually, don't worry about it right now. It would take too long to explain it properly and we need to focus on the Pokedisease in front of us.*

     *Fine, but don't forget to fill me in later.*

     Due to this bizarre turn of events, Espiria was quite a ways ahead of them, in the hopes of being the first to contact Sceptile. They didn't want him thinking they were up to no good and so Espiria would be there to placate him. In the event that he attacked without warning, she could simply teleport away.

     Asmond made sure to inform all of his Pokemon to stay far away from the corpses and to absolutely never touch them. As they were pushing forward through the jungle's undergrowth, Espiria suddenly called them to a halt.

     She had encountered Sceptile and was currently informing him of their intentions. After a few minutes of speaking with each other, Sceptile and Espiria made their way back to the others.

     *So I told him that we just want to help and possibly cooperate if possible but he says that, if you're our leader, then he wants to speak to you personally.*

     *I see. Well, I suppose that's reasonable.*

     "Greetings, Sceptile. My name is Asmond and these Pokemon here are all part of my team. We all cooperate and assist one another in becoming stronger through training. As such, every one of the Pokemon before you is more than a match for any of their unevolved peers. A couple of them might even be able to take on an evolved form of their peers, if they had to.

     "Of course, the reason I'm telling you all this is because I would greatly appreciate it, if you  would consider allowing me to raise a Treeko. That, of course, was our original intention and it still is but it seems your territory is in something of a bind. As such, if there's anything you need us to do, we would be glad to help. If you know something about the origin of this phenomenon and share it with us, we might be able to find a solution."

     Sceptile took a moment to digest these words. He then looked at Asmond suspiciously and asked. 

     *He asks why you would be willing to help him, before ensuring you could get what you want? Even if you were to solve his problem for him, you would still have to convince him to let you take a Treeko.*

     "That's not at all as mysterious as it seems. It's actually quite obvious. What do you think would happen, if I just ignored such a phenomenon so close to my recently conquered territory? While this thing, whatever it is, is only affecting your territory at the moment, who's to say that it won't spread if left unchecked.

     "Knowing that such a terrifying event is happening right next to my new home, wouldn't I be a fool to simply sit idly by assuming that it will just go away or simply remain satisfied that it only affects your territory. That being said, it seems to me that this is both of our problems."

     *I had told him earlier that we weren't like the other Pokemon, because we follow you and work together. Now he's saying that, if you attacked the Unfezants and conquered their territory then how are you different and how does he know you won't eventually try to take his territory?*

     "Ah, this I can explain. You see, we didn't attack the Unfezants. The Unfezants were quite hostile the moment they saw us and attacked immediately. They just didn't know that we were more than a match for them.

     "It is true, however, that we attacked the Kadabra to the east proactively. I'm telling you this because I suspect you would have found out sooner or later and I don't want to be seen to be hiding things from you. That incident occurred because he had something of great value to my Espeon here and he refused to hand it over. You should be well aware that strength is one of the highest priorities for those who wish to survive. The situation with Kadabra was simply a matter of obtaining more strength to help me and my team survive.

     "In your case, you have nothing that we need, other than a Treeko or an egg. Also, you're quite a bit stronger than Kadabra, if I'm not mistaken. We aren't fools who walk blindly into danger. We know when to retreat, in order to fight another day. If you were to turn me down even after receiving my aid, I would have no choice but to give up on obtaining a Treeko from you and look elsewhere. I would never put my teammate's lives in danger by foolishly pitting them against an overwhelming enemy."

     Sceptile took even longer to digest this new rebuttal and stood there for a couple of minutes with his arms crossed staring at Asmond.

     *He agrees to allow you to help him. However, he still maintains that obtaining a Treeko is not at all a given and will require much more than this.*

     "Excellent, Sceptile! I wish us a happy cooperation. The matter of the Treeko can wait. We have more pressing matters, at the moment. So what do you know of this unfortunate occurrence?"

     Asmond continued to converse with Sceptile for nearly an hour and gradually began to understand somethings about this inexplicable phenomenon.

     As it turned out, these Pokemon began dying strange and sudden deaths about two weeks ago. Sceptile wasn't aware of what started it but said that it started quite close to the tree line on the southern edge of the forest. It slowly began affecting Pokemon further away from that location. The ones affected would gradually lose their strength, eventually becoming lethargic, and then dying.

     He even acknowledged, after much hesitation, that he himself had been affected and he was finding it harder and harder to move every day. After hearing this bit, Asmond immediately suspected that traveling to the southern tree line would reveal the secret behind these mysterious deaths. 

     This obviously wasn't a particularly hard conclusion to come by but Sceptile admitted that he had not gone there. He had already been affected, by the time he was aware of the phenomenon's origin. He was afraid that going near that area would only hasten his death. He even admitted that tomorrow he had intended to leave this territory to seek out a new one.

     Asmond, reassured Sceptile that they would get to the bottom of this. He couldn't be certain what was causing this but he seriously doubted that simply approaching the area would lead to their deaths, considering everything that Sceptile had told them.

     "Alright, Sceptile, we're heading out now. If you don't want to come, you don't have to but this is your territory and we may require your assistance. So are you coming?"

     Sceptile looked at the ground for a moment, while considering Asmond's words. He then raised his head, with his expression resolute, and responded.

     "Sceptile"

     Two and half hours later, Sceptile, Asmond, and his teammates were approaching the tree line and they had yet to see anything out of the ordinary, besides the numerous Pokemon corpses scattered about.

     Asmond asked Espiria to climb a nearby tree to see if she could spot anything from up there. After climbing up and not having detected any abnormalities, Espiria was about to head back down when she spotted something in the corner of her eye.

     She looked closely at the figure in the distance, asleep on a cluster of tree branches just outside the range of her ESP. She skipped over a few branches, while moving closer and realized it was a Dustox. Not entirely sure what to make of this but certain Asmond would want to know, Espiria rushed back to the others and reported her findings.

     *A Dustox? And you're sure it was sleeping and not dead?* Asmond asked. 

     *Yep, pretty sure the dead don't have thoughts. If I can pick it up with my ESP, it's almost certainly alive. Plus, after you told me about certain brain waves being associated with different brain states, I began practicing being able to distinguish which brain state someone is in by determining the brain waves they're emitting.* Espiria informed him.

     *Oh, nice! I'm glad to hear of your progression but we should definitely check this out. A sleeping Dustox in a place where every other Pokemon is dead, that's the most suspicious thing I've heard, since this whole thing started. Come on let's go.*

     They all crossed the short distance over to the tree the Dustox was sleeping in and stared up at it. Espiria, Seedot carrying Torchic, and Shinx all made their way up towards the sleeping Dustox to try and learn more about the situation.

     Right before they arrived at the cluster of branches serving as the Dustox's bed, Espiria witnessed some type of shadow slipping away from Dustox's body and back towards the ground. She tried detecting it with her ESP but couldn't sense anything from that direction.

     Espiria told Asmond about what she saw, before wrapping herself and the three other Pokemon in her Psychic Shield. Seedot sent out his vines to wrap around Dustox, while Shinx and Torchic both readied their most powerful abilities.

     Espiria then spoke into Dustox's mind and woke it up. The moment it awakened, it began trying desperately to escape and thrashing about wildly. It was all useless, however, and Espiria was able to calm it down, after a few minutes of reassurance.

     After speaking with Dustox at length about why she was sleeping up there and why all the Pokemon around her were dying, another piece of the puzzle seemed to fall into place. Dustox didn't know how long she had been asleep nor was she aware that the other Pokemon had suffered such a bizarre fate.

     She did, however, recount having been asleep for a very long time and the entire time she was asleep she suffered from nightmares. These nightmares were extremely odd and put her in life and death situations, where she could not use any of her abilities other than her poison and sleep powders.

     After hearing her tale, Espiria had Dustox promise not to attack them and then ordered Seedot to release her. Dustox immediately flew off away from the jungle and Espiria and the others returned to Asmond.

     As Espiria had begun speaking with Dustox, Asmond, having received her report about the shadow, looked towards the direction she indicated and saw the shadow she spoke of. Deciding that he should do something other than stand around waiting for Espiria, he took Squirtle, Geodude, Volteon, and Happiny with him to see about this shadow.

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     Ghastly, upon witnessing the group of Pokemon closing in on his position, quickly exited Dustox's body and was planning to hide nearby, until they left.

     'How did they even know to come here to begin with? Dammit, I'll just have to wait and see if they leave. I can't just give up on a free meal like that. Once they leave, it'll be nothing but fun, fun, fun, and food, food, food, for days. Hehehehe!'

     As Ghastly peaked out from the tree he had ducked behind, he instantly recognized his new predicament. They were coming for him! They had witnessed him leaving the Dustox's body and were now closing in on his position.

     'Shit! This is no good! I need to escape now!'

     Ghastly, seeing his pursuers rapidly closing the distance between them, turned around and attempted to flee. Before he could do so, however, he was caught up in a flood of water that came from behind him. The second after that he felt a powerful electric shock coursing through him. 

     As soon as the powerful force of water began to recede, he was hit with a Light Beam that caused him to fall to the ground. He could no longer even maintain his levitation nor could he control the dispersion of his gaseous body, such were his injuries from the repeated attacks. All he could do was lay there helplessly on the ground and wait for death.

     'Is this really how it ends? I had the perfect plan, so what happened? How did it come to this?'

----------

     Asmond watched as the effects of his Pokemon's attacks against the fleeing Ghastly proved to be super effective. He approached the Ghastly laying on the ground, hoping they hadn't killed it. At this time, Espiria caught up to them and took her place beside Asmond.

     As he drew nearer he could now tell that it was still alive and so he addressed it. "So, Ghastly, do you mind telling me what you were doing to that Dustox or are we going to have to do some convincing?"

     The look in Ghastly's eyes worsened as it clearly understood the implied threat and he wasn't sure if his body could handle any more damage. Afraid that not cooperating would lead to more pain or possibly even his death, Ghastly decided to spill the Pokebeans.

     Sceptile and his new detectives soon learned that Ghastly had been born just a year ago and had been having it kind of rough. It wasn't sure how it was born but he claimed to have just came to be one day in the jungle.

     As a Ghost Type Pokemon, he needed to consume the energies that would be released after a Pokemon's death. It was unique for a short moment after death and, if he waited too long, the energy wouldn't be the same and wouldn't give him nourishment.

     There were plenty of Pokemon dying in the jungle but they were being killed and eaten by other Pokemon stronger than himself. By the time the threat of the other Pokemon passed, there was usually very little of the energy that he required remaining.

     So one night, when he happened upon a sleeping Dustox, he came up with a clever plan to prank the Dustox, as was his nature. While he was pranking the Dustox, however, he noticed that it would react physically to the nightmares it was giving him.

     This discovery led him to a plan that might help him acquire more food on a more regular basis. By manipulating its nightmares, Ghastly induced the Dustox to use it's Sleep Powder on itself, while it slept, thus ensuring that it wouldn't wake up. It then induced the Dustox to use Poison Powder over and over until its energy was depleted.

     His hope was that passing Pokemon would eventually succumb to the poison's effects and then provide him with the energy he required. It worked quite well and he didn't see any reason to stop since he would be right back to scrounging for leftovers if he did.

     After being told about the massive area that had been affected by his little scheme, he swore up and down that he had no intention of creating that kind of mess.

     "Alright, Ghastly, I'll believe you but in order to make up for all the troubles you're reckless actions have caused you'll be required to join my team and train with everyone else here. Sceptile here was severely affected by your actions. So much so that he was considering leaving his territory. 

     "Not to mention that many others who lived in his territory are now dead because of what you did. If you don't come with me, I can't guarantee that Sceptile will allow you to leave here alive. Speaking of which, Sceptile, will you try and stop me if I try and take Ghastly with me?"

     Sceptile had a difficult expression on his face,  as he stared sternly at the Ghastly before him. He was clearly struggling with this decision.

     "I should remind you that he's only a little over a year old and it's not unusual for ones so young to make mistakes, especially when they are desperate and driven by hunger. I know this isn't a small mistake but he'll be under my care from now on and I'll make sure to teach him how to act properly." Asmond reminded him.

     Sceptile moved his gaze towards Asmond and his expression softened ever so slightly. He didn't say anything, however, he simply turned and walked away from them.

     "Well, Ghastly, it looks like you got lucky. Sceptile doesn't seem to be in the mood to kill you right now. Even more luckily for you, if you join us, not only can we ensure you have plenty of nourishing energy from dying Pokemon but we'll also train and protect you. What's your decision?"

     Ghastly not only saw very few options, other than what Asmond was offering, but also quite liked the idea of traveling and training with a group that could protect and feed him. As such, it took him less than a second to consent to joining their team.

     Asmond took out a handful of Pecha Berries to give everyone along with a Sitrus Berry for Ghastly. After making sure that Ghastly was safely secured on his backpack, Asmond and his team made their way back to their own territory, in order to put the finishing touches on it with a brand new Vine House.