[center][h1][color=red]Shade[/color][/h1][/center]

[sub]Interactions: [color=0b5345]Jackson[/color], [color=c0392b]Raven[/color] ([@A Tattooed Girl])[/sub][hr]

Shade relaxed when the nameless "soldier" disarmed himself, but only slightly. Even as he talked, she was already moving to strip the Regime corpses of anything useful, taking care to slit the throat of each to make sure that they were dead, though she did always position herself so that she could see the man. Ammunition was her interest; any food or medical supplies they might have had was probably burning with the trucks, and more weapons would be too bulky to be practical. Besides which, she got by well enough with her bow and rifle.


She didn’t much care if he thought it was “silly” to burn the uniform, nor did she care when he did it or whether or not he was comfortable. Until he did, she sure as hell wasn’t going to trust him. Hell, she didn’t even trust the others that much either. At least the girl had clearly been a captive, the boys she didn’t know from a hole in the ground. Trust, Shade had found, was something that was almost as valuable as food and water these days. She’d come too far to end up with another knife in her back. If that upset the others, well, they didn’t have to stick around.

Seeing the girl approaching, Shade didn’t focus on her too much, continuing to loot the corpses. When she was thanked for her help, she simply grunted noncommittally. [color=red]”Says the girl who got caught once already.”[/color] Despite her words, there was no malice behind them. [color=red]”Just be careful. People lie.”[/color] If the girl wanted to risk it, that was her choice. Shade wasn’t about to tell her what to do. It was her life.

Razor was acting oddly, keeping his gaze locked on the Electabuzz. Whatever was going on between them, Shade was smart enough to stay out of it. There was a lot that people didn’t understand about Pokemon, one of the many reasons that Shade hated the Regime. They acted as though they were above the world instead of part of it, that they could do however they pleased with no consequences. They destroyed everything in their path. People like that were little more than a disease, a dead thing that needed to be cut out. 

The detonation of the fuel tank in one of the trucks masked the sound of the gunshot, but it was a reminder enough for Shade that it was time to leave. She had no desire to be captured; in all likelihood, she’d be shot as soon as somebody figured out that she was The Butcher. Hell, the only reason she’d made it this far with such freedom was because soldiers didn’t live long enough to report her face. 

Then the forest started burning in other areas, and Shade decided it was [b]really[/b] time to go. Razor was already moving, vanishing into the brush and undergrowth, and she was close behind the Sneasel. This was Shade’s element, the reason that she chose that moniker for the few times that she had to interact with people. [b]Nobody[/b] could catch her in the forest. Knowing the terrain and being unpredictable were the keys, so when a stream of fire crossed her path, Shade went straight through it, covering her mouth with her sleeve. 

As they were running, she saw Razor beginning to angle in the direction the girl and Regime guy had been heading, making her frown. [color=red][i]What? No, Razor, what are you doing? Split up, you stupid Sharp Claw, don’t give them one big target to go after![/i][/color] Growling in anger, Shade changed course and headed east, to a deep ravine where she had been camped for the past couple of days, and where there were a few traps waiting for anyone stupid enough to pursue her.

It didn’t take long for the Sneasel to catch up to his targets, leaping from branch to branch with the lithe grace that his species was known for. He screeched and hissed to the Electabuzz, darting in and out of their path in a consistent direction that he wanted them to go.