How the Infection Spreads

Jackal's pupils shrink within his irises and his face loses its complexion. "Wait, you mean...if any of those things I've fought ever..." He trails off to avoid really projecting the ill-fated picture in his mind.

Although, Hex nods to confirm his worry. "Indeed. The infected retain a semblance of who they were, but it's as though they enjoy becoming the vicious monsters that the infection inclines them to be. It's like they're being controlled rather diverting to some primal, animalistic mindset despite appearances." The frog rubs at his temple, not really wanting to go further, but it was more important to be told than not. "They operate off of two desires, sometimes not mutually exclusive to one another. Their bodies increase in strength and stamina at an accelerated rate, to levels that shouldn't be physically impossible originally. I believe their constant need to eat whole and living food helps sustain the amount of energy they output."

You tense your brows and ask, "What does that have to do with the latter desire though? Why is their...'libido' I guess in this case so high and ****?"

"That, I'm still mulling over." The Toxicroak states. "It's peculiar in a lewd but terrifying way, but I think with all over their senses going into overdrive, I think it affects their libido as well. The need to eat is equal to the need to run, the need to hunt, the need to exert so much strength into every attack and noise they make. It affects their need to...well...fuck, in this sense."

Jackal's mouth wrinkles and you could sense the sickness in his stomach. "It's a damn...STD?"

"Yes and no." The Toxicroak was apparently ready for the comparison. "It isn't through any kind of bacteria from what I have looked at. You can eat a feral and not be infected strangely enough. It's more about the action than what's transmitted."

"The action?" You grunt. "As in, because they're...sexually using you, something about you changes?"

The Toxicroak rubs over his head, "I know it doesn't seem to make sense, but there's some kind of mental factor that takes place that's most likely a clue, or perhaps even the key to the infection. I can only offer theories from this point, but I can tell you that each and every infection I have encountered or studied, the patients have been the victim of, well...the infected **** them."

That was a lot to take in. You had heard a couple of the theories from Redeemer's Grotto, but that seemed like the worst way for the apocalypse-inducer to be traded. Despite all of your encounters with the infected before, you were happy to have avoided any attempt from the beings to **** you, but that still didn't leave a pit in your gut thinking about what would happen if they did. "Yeesh...the chief of Redeemer's Grotto said there were a lot of theories they had to, sex I think was one of them. But I'm pretty sure he mentioned that bites could also transfer it too."

"Those fools." The Toxicroak groans with disappointment. "I told them all I knew to the last runner that went by these parts, but either the runner didn't make it, or they still refuse to believe what I've told them for the sake of less dreadful reason." He looks to and explains, "I have been bitten by the infected before, numerous times in fact. Mostly it has been my arm to defend an attack, or trying to get away from them when they attempt to swallow me in." He pats his thigh, where the faint remnants of a bitemark are left. "This bite alone was a few weeks ago, but I'm presently fine without any symptoms. And the reverse is true too. If you recall Lace, _you _bit into that infected Yanmega, but no traces of the infection have gotten to you, have they?"

That was true, right in the arm of the bug. It wasn't anything in their blood or saliva that could transfer the infection over. The confusing factor was that it couldn't just be cum though, right? You recall the Pinsir and Politoed you ate beforehand certainly didn't infect despite both of them being male from what you recall, the latter for sure.

"I think I've been bitten before too, but that was a long time ago..." The Typhlosion by you scratches at his head, "So then...what the hell is the 'factor' you're talkin' about?"

Hex shakes his own head. It looks as though he's thought about it for awhile before, but never had any real proof or idea. "I don't really know how to describe it. I believe some kind of chemical exchange is at play, that affects the victim's mind from the infected's mind. The infection inflicts both physical and psychological change, so perhaps the truth of the mystery relies on the latter since the former can be explained to a degree with the excess energy."

Jackal grumbles, "And you're certain it's done through the infected having sex with their victims?"

The Toxicroak flashes a look that was far more aggressive at first than you've ever seen out of him today. Apparently he didn't like that part to be questioned. "I am very certain. It's how the infection spreads, I've seen it personally too many times." He exudes an annoyed sigh and looks down at the candle of the table once more. "The process of turning into one of them appears to be quick. From mere minutes to an hour, it works fast in changing the mind of the victim to become the hungry, lewd monsters you've encountered all this time."

"Damn..." The fire-type mutters, finally taking a sit down to process it all. "I never knew. Of all the close calls I've had, I guess they were closer calls than I ever realized." His depression naturally turns into the usual anger he has, getting fired up both internally and externally now that the pores on the back of his head began to flare up. "This is such bullshit! How does something like that even start? How do we stop it?"

Hex breaks his view from the candle to elaborate, "I am not the type of person to have all of these answers, but merely inference on them. For how this started...I presume it's the work of a poison, psychic, or ghost Pokemon."

Your ears flick. "Wait...you think there's a person to blame for all of this?" You never considered that to even be an option. You were so focused on thinking this was brought up like any other disease, but if what Hex was saying was true, it wasn't traditionally a disease at all. It had to be something that was created or actively happening from somewhere.

"It is why I told you that I only have theories about its source, nothing concrete, but do think about it. Viruses require a host of some kind in order to survive, but with the infected constantly needing to eat and exerting so much energy, it isn't self-sustaining in the long-term sense." He gives a very cautious look. "That food, us rather, will run out at some point. The virus would die out, even if it tries to spread. The infected also do not eat one another, even if they're starving. The point isn't to survive. It's to simply consume beings that aren't infected, or transform them to add to their numbers. Why? Why have that destructive intent?"

"If not for it to be on purpose..." You mutter.

"Precisely." Hex nods, seeing that you came to his conclusion. "Which also helps my concerns of this not being a biological disease, but something else."

Jackal finally begins to pick up on the theory before. "Poison...psychic...or ghost. Oh shit, as in a venom that affects the mind, a psychic affecting the mind, or...a ghost-type...uhh..."

Hex elaborates, "...as in a supernatural curse. Ghost Pokemon are the least understood people for they have a connection no other type has, which is why I'm more inclined to think it's either a psychic-type or a ghost-type that created the infection. A poison-type would leave some kind of chemical evidence that affects the blood and not the mind, but perhaps there's something to that in which I'm also missing."

"Dammit." The Typhlosion cups both of his hands to his head. He never realized the infection was more sinister than he thought. "Who...who the fuck would do that though? Why would they make it?!"

The Toxicroak leans back from where he sat, having felt the same frustrations before, "It could be unintentional for all we know, that this is a byproduct of something very wrong had happened. Sources from back in the day have no idea who the first case was, or where the infected starting cropping up. It seems as though multiple areas of the continent we live on were affected in quick succession, if not the same time. Without a proper defense or knowledge of such a problem, it was only inevitable that the infection would claim the lives and ruin society as we knew it long ago."

You couldn't help but now feel that this really all was intentional however. Something like creating people into eating and **** each other seemed too...nefarious as an accident of any kind. Speaking up, you ask, "But if it is intentional...how do we go about finding this person, or stopping what they're doing?"

"Depends on their type, I suppose." Hex shrugs, cupping a finger to his chin. "For a ghost-type, I am afraid I am completely unsure. I haven't come across many in my time here, for they tend to be a rare bunch. But when it comes to psychic-types, I have someone in mind to-" He wouldn't get to finish his explanation, as a low growl sounds out. Both you and Jackal share a similar look, flicking your ears up on high alert. It sounded like other infected you've encountered, but the voice was muffled. It was hard to tell where it had come from.

Jackal looks around, peering at through any holes of the hanging moss to try and look outside in the bog, "Shit, is there another one out there?"

You look to the frog, "Hex, blow out the candles, we need to-"

Hex shakes his head. His expression was solemn but in a mournful way. "...There is no need."

"Huh?" Jackal mutters. "Didn't you hear-" Just then, a rattling sounds out. It was metallic in nature, but sounded much closer. In fact, it was dragging on the floor in another room over. Another growl resounds in the room, muffled from behind the wall.

You strain up from your seat with Jackal, the Typhlosion gesturing for you to stay put as he was going to check it out first. Hex begrudgingly looks over and says, "Please, sit back down. I promise you, it isn't what you think."

The Typhlosion wasn't settling with that. He approaches the door of the next room and opens it right up. With a glance to you, he then opens it to peek inside, with Hex now rising up to say, "She probably woke up when you hit the table earlier, please just-"

"Wh-What the fuck?!" Jackal grunts with disbelief before swinging his head to Hex, snarling with anger. He grabs the frog by the wrists and slams Hex to the wall, pinning him to it. "You better start explaining what the fuck that is, right now."

Confused, you stumble towards the door to see whatever Jackal witnessed. The door was still left open, and with a lean, you could peer well enough inside. Drool drips onto the floor as it exudes from the panting mouth of another frog, a female Croagunk no less. Her neck was collared and attached to a chain that kept her leashed to a wall in the back, and her body stumbles forward to tug at it. Your eyes shrink to notice her own eyes. A vivid glowing purple shined in the darkness, and her voice growls with hunger.

Seeing you, the frog girl tries to dash forward, but the chain bolted to the opposing wall straightens and stops her meters short from getting to you.

Hex was keeping an infected in his own home.