“Are you even listening, private? You know, I had second thoughts on bringing you in the first place.”

“I feel a bit sick. Are you sure it’ll take 8 hours? That seems like a lot, right?”

“I’ve been flying aircrafts my entire life. You and I will be completely fine. Your oxygen mask is right up to your left and there aren’t any passengers. This is a relatively tame flight.”

“Tame? Tame? What do you mean, tame? You’ve seen our cargo, right? You realize what I had to pack in this aircraft, right?”

“I understand completely, there’s no need to repeat yourself. I appreciate your efforts, truly. Think of it as… just another flight.”

“Is it too late to switch with another member of my squad?”


“Prepare for takeoff, private.”


THE CITY IS AFLAME. 

The four gangs intersect at Détourner Way; catching the tail end of a gruesome fight with strange, never before seen zombies: Burst Deathwolves.
Flames rose from the skyline, originating from Santalune City. Sweat poured down the survivors backs as they navigated the ashen streets that many called home.

All they knew is that it began with a crash. 

The survivors finally came upon the crash site, bloodied as they entered an unwelcoming place. The plane itself was in utter shambles - exhaling a blistering breeze through its gaping maw of an opening. They can make out a few letters, but most are smudged by the ashes.          `Ai▓▓▓s ▓▓t▓y A▓▓0M`.

THE CRASH.

Making their way through the city, there's an uneasy feeling in the air amidst the smoke. As time passes, the smog only grows thicker. The city grows more infested with strange packs of zombies that had attacked earlier. Ones that exploded upon contact; groups of HOUNDOR that they had never encountered prior. 

A massive city like Santalune had been considered a psuedo-deadzone prior, requiring a massive hunting party to traverse safely. Now, the fire killed indiscriminately, snuffing out life as it went. It was strange to see it, then, the source of the beautiful city's downfall.

A plane had crashed in the forest.

Not just any plane, no.

A military air craft; the corpse of it aflame.

From the skeleton of the craft, was a creature that no living being could fathom. Gatekeeper of the dead, three headed... the only proper name for such a thing was...

"cerberus" by @/unifae. 

Cerberus

As you approach, you are frozen still by the sound of a disgusting, mashing howl from behind you--it sounded like voices mashing and piling atop each other, in anger, in pain. Perhaps it's another pack of deathwolves-- Instead, there stands one. It is massive. It is angry. It is unlike anything you’ve seen before, and unlike anything you wished to be real; the bodies of three unfortunate corpses mashed and gnarled together to allow for one creature to lumber forward. The main body is that of a mega houndoom, the faint glow of a mega stone embedded deep within its chest, caged in by the bones cradling its cavity. The horrid stench of rotten, melting flesh fills your lungs, and you want to gag. With another howl the plane collapses further in on itself, and the massive three-headed beast is barreling right towards you, flames spewing from a broken up maw. 


THE PLANE

They didn't have time to wonder how the hellspawn was created. For now, the only motivation was this: Survive.

Eventually, the beast was slain by pulling the scalding hot mega stone from its chest. Its dying howl shakes the forest, and the pack that so adamantly defended it fled the area.

All that was left was the searing corpse of the aircraft. Still in one piece, there was a chance to board it... who knew what they would find inside?

The innards of the plane were hot enough to be lethal. Yet, the elusive military tempted them enough to investigate--  hoping to find answers on board. With what remained of the wreckage, clues looked unlikely, until...

Out of pure curiosity, you grab for one of them and feel a sharp sting. You let out a cry and drop it, the glass shattering. It was ear piercing. The red liquid seeped from the glass, eating at the metal floor. A few splashes of the liquid had gotten on your skin. The drops of red began sizzling, your flesh melting from whatever was in that vile. You scream, jumping back from the accident. After a few seconds, the pain subsides and you stop tensing. The serum had eaten at parts of your skin, leaving small circles of exposed muscle. Whatever the hell that was, it was not safe. You felt as if you wanted to pass out from the panic and heat and decide to step back, desperately pointing back to the ladder. You do not want to stay here any longer.

Click to enlarge

PROJECT: MEGA EVOLUTION


Dr. Luis Mercer, PhD. Biologist and Chemist for the Kalos Military [KMP]. An avid researcher for the past decade, and lead scientist responsible for the initial creation of the E77K strain and subsequent mutations of it."The use of Living Subjects will be allowed for the testing of biochemical and biological agents by the Kalos Department of Defense, accounting to committees with respect to the experiment and studies." 
"The Kalosian Military [KMP] [may] conduct tests and experiments involving the use of chemical and biological [warfare] agents on civilian populations [within the Kalos Region]."

THE EXPERIMENTS

The files were evidence that the Military experimented on innocent lives. There was a sickening silence as the papers were read aloud. 

THE MEGA EVOLUTION PROJECT discussed in detail how to hold a stable zombification on a "MEGA EVOLVED SPECIES." Multiple methods were explored, such as injection, surgery, oral application, and topical application. The ultimate discovery was that surgical application on a houndoom had proved to be successful.

THE CERBERUS PROJECT was a continuation of this idea, using multiple undead to be sewn into one body-- as if to "force" them into a new species or new "form" of evolution. Ultimately this test proved successful, but, was in dire need of more field testing.

The survivors exit the plane feeling sickened, but enlightened. 

TL;DR

WHAT CHANGED?