Late to the party, the scientist adjusted the bag that hung on his shoulder as he jogged forward. Thankfully the miserable groans of the zombified Megalopolans were enough to shadow his footsteps. As he approached, he saw the two that were to be on his team and gave a firm nod. It seemed the two were aware of the situation, but the blissful Illumina Shinx in Lam's hands didn't understand the danger. Much like the other two, Sven himself was in the dark about this place, but that wasn't an issue in his mind. Things like these were worth the research.

"I think I got an idea, and hear me out guys. We're just gonna have to do our best to keep quiet and--"

It wasn't long until Sven noticed how one of the creatures lumbered towards them, and soon broke out into a sprint. His body tensed. What was it that attracted it their way? Scent? Sound? As Sven hurriedly dug through his bag, he tried to figure out a solution. But as the lumbering creature made its way forward, his Iron Valiant stepped between the party and its oncoming assailant and lobbed the creature's head clean off in one fell swoop. Sven's eyes widened as he felt his stomach churn at the way the severed head bounced a few feet and the headless body came tumbling down. With a rough swallow of the bile that crawled its way up his throat, Sven reached up and gave his Iron Valiant a firm pat on the shoulder.

"It was a good call, Colissimo, but we don't want to kill these things if we don't have to. There's a chance they're still alive, so let's try to take care of this delicately. We don't want to stoop to their levels."

The Iron Valiant seemed hesitant to listen to its trainer's suggestion, but soon gave a nod. But it wasn't long until the creature turned to look at the Illumina Shinx and allowed its eyes to bore into the pokemon. Sven looked between Colissimo and Noodle, then the idea hit him. With a sharp breath in, Sven dug through his bag. Was it light that attracted these things? Once he managed to find a smaller flashlight he'd packed, Sven flipped the switch and stepped back to wind up the shot. As the small trinket whizzed through the sky, the bright light on it caught the attention of the zombified Megalopolans and sent them on a frenzy.

With the path cleared for the trio to continue, Sven beamed as he stuck out his thumb and pinky and shook it in a short of greeting at the two.

"Name's Sven, by the way. Pleased to make you two's acquaintance. I'm thinking these things are attracted to light, so if you feel your Shinx can outrun these things, maybe we can use it as another distraction? If not, I totally get it, we can improv otherwise! But right now, our best course of action is to just see what's up with this place, maybe we can discover what put these things into such a zombified trance? I'm not too hopeful about that, but if we figure that much out, maybe we can reverse it."

prompts completed
- 13 use a light source in some way to distract a swarm of mad megalopolans.

⚰︎ divider made by milky!

lam logan Jasmine Blair

It seemed Jasmine had taken the opportunity to scout while Lam reasoned that it wouldn't be an issue for him to use Noodle to distract the Megalopolans. Sven's expression offered furrowed brows as he thought the scenario over. Was Lam certain? At least for Jasmine, she was able to take to the sky with the use of her pokemon that looked none too dissimilar from a prehistoric Salamence. These new pokemon that some of the league scientists had deemed Paradox Pokemon had some questionable origins. Rumors of their creation stemming merely from thoughts and dreams seemed farfetched but... What didn't anymore?

"Only if you're certain," he warned Lam. "Be safe, and godspeed."

A friendly yet firm hand met the green haired man's shoulder as Sven gave a firm nod. It seemed it was up to himself and Jazz to check on the person that she had managed to find while scouting. With Lam on the distracting end of the spectrum, it seemed they'd have to find some safe haven for this Megalopolan. His breath hitched as feet pounded against concrete to make a mad dash in the direction that Jazz had come from.

"There's no time to wait, we've got to move."

Lam could likely only keep the zombified Megalopolans distracted for so long. The other two? They were stuck on guard duty. Who knew how many more of those creatures lurked about? As Sven rushed towards the location of the Megalopolan, his Iron Valiant kept pace with no issue. And the moment he caught sight of blue skin, he knew the Megalopolan was straight ahead. He didn't mean to scrunch his expression as he did in frustration, but could anyone blame him? Megalopolans had caused plenty of troubles with Hoenn.

"Tell us what's going on."

"I-- I really don't know... My team was stranded here. They've already got the other two. I'm the only one left. Please get me out of here."

Something about the tone of the Megalopolan felt trustworthy. Maybe it was a gamble, but one Sven felt it was worthwhile to take. He turned his attention to Jazz once she managed to catch up and spoke directly.

"Hey, can you take this... Person? Up into the air with you. Get them safe on a rooftop for now. Then I need you to rush back to make sure Lam is safe. You're able to get there way faster than I can. Sorry to bark orders at you, I'm just trying to think of the most logical way to get around this."

He was certain he'd be fine.

prompts completed
- 13 use a light source in some way to distract a swarm of mad megalopolans.

⚰︎ divider made by milky!

lam logan Jasmine Blair

After Jasmine parted with someone who seemed to be caught in the crossfire of this dark wasteland, Sven could only focus his attention towards the direction they needed to head. That meant cutting through the deeper trenches of the city. He drew out his Cyclizar and boarded its back with Iron Valiant in tow. If the two could speed through the streets without drawing attention to themselves, then they'd be in the clear.

Little did he realize that these zombified Megalopolans were able to use the dark to their advantage. Two of them easily flanked the trio and caused Sven's Cyclizar to spin out and go crashing down. His face met the concrete and one of the Megalopolans on him began to twist his arm at an unusual angle while a foot met the side of his face that wasn't pressed against the gravel below. A popping sound filled his ears as the shifting of his arm signaled that it had only just a few more degrees to bend before it would break.

"Colissimo! Night Slash!"

The Paradox Pokemon whirred to life once more and blasted the Megalopolans that had cornered them. Sven took a few deep breaths as he opened and closed his hand to make sure his arm wasn't broken, or at the very least sprained. Despite the tactic used to fend off the Megalopolans, it seemed the move had some sort of effect against the zombies. Maybe he was overthinking it, or maybe it meant something deep down. Sven wrote it off as mere paranoia, short and sweet. After he helped his Cyclizar back to its feet, Sven took off with his pokemon once more, this time much more cautiously.

As he caught sight of the impressive beast that was Jasmine's Roaring Moon, he heaved a sigh of relief. Though little did he realize as he sped to reach the pair that were his expedition partners, Megalopolans caught wind of the sounds made and began to follow. As he realized this, Sven and his Cyclizar slid past both Lam and Jasmine and he readied himself to fight. Sven rolled his shoulders. The one that had been pulled and twisted previously gave a pop of some sort of relief, as though it was right back into place.

"I don't think we're going to get out of here so easily," he insisted. "Forget what I said earlier, we might have to kill a few of these things."

The zombies weren't there to fight fair, so why should the trio?

prompts completed
- 13 use a light source in some way to distract a swarm of mad megalopolans.

⚰︎ divider made by milky!

lam logan Jasmine Blair