I had finished "technical training" one week ago and I was already being sent on my first deployment mission. It was a rescue expedition. A whole fleet of us was in charge of providing relief equipment and first aid to some refugees and detainees in the Unova region. Team Magma and Team Aqua had secured the entire country and had people in dire conditions after seizing their resources and distributing them to their other armada's in the Hoenn and Kalos regions. Water, food, pokemon, and medical equipment were very scarce according to the reports from journalists and double agents. People were in devastating circumstances and it was up to us to get them supplies that will be able to sustain their lives. I was thankful it wasn't a battle mission…at least not primarily.

I guess I should explain. The war has been going on for a while and there has already been squadrons on the prowl in that area. So their defenses are weakened and it looked like we, the Democratic Phalanx, had been able to overrule the southwest of the Unova area, which includes the towns Aspertia,Sangi, and Virbank. Our troops had already built bases and secured forts there, so that was where we were traveling in order to add up to their stockpiles. Their stockpiles were given to the citizens and the victims of the warcrimes which were some of the neediest people I had ever heard about. Some were wounded and missing limbs. Others had it much worse and were missing family members. I felt so awful for the orphan children, the widows, and the mourning parents who had been robbed of their precious children. They needed us and that was what sort of gave me a bit of courage. Even though my legs were both still limp noodles to be honest.

The Democratic Phalanx is basically the three allegiances against the Imperial Alliance. It is made of up Kanto, Johto, and Kalos. The Imperial Alliance on the other hand, seized Hoenn, Unova, and Sinnoh. The alliance was no governmental officials either, it was made up of rogue extremists and bandits most famously known as Team Aqua and Team Magma. Two fearsome fanatical groups which were once sworn enemies and kept each other in balance. They used to always be in rivalry since they were opposite in motives. One wanted an earth that lived up to its name and the other wanted to submerge it. However, they found their true strength by forming a partnership and no one was ready for how powerful they had become. They first overthrew Unova and left it completely desolate. No one responded fast enough to stop the infiltration. Especially since these teams had been overthrown previously and were not taken as seriously as they should have been. Kalos and Hoenn tried to combat them and take back the zone after emergency signals were sent out to all of the neighboring regions, but they were not strong enough to handle the fleets and armadas that the Alliance had formed. They used Unova's own military power and Poke-arms against all opposers and pretty soon, overtook them as well. It was very fast, how they expanded, which really sent red flags to every region that hadn't been dethroned. They were no joke, they were fearsome and out for blood. There was a lot of fear mongering and paranoia after broadcasts from the criminal agencies themselves had reached our routers. They used a lot of scare tactics like public executions of former officials, displays of ghost towns filled with corpses lying throughout the pavement, and even showing off their fearsome Poke-arm collections.

That was why our regions were taking extreme precautions and sent out selective service notices to every young man of military age and started to build up our forces. That's how I got here anyway. There is a lot more politics and a lot more metrics that go into this new war…like the motives of the Alliance, which was to split the earths circumference equally amongst each other after they have overtaken every region and built a temporary totalitarian empire. Each half would reflect the values of their group. One part of the earth would be rigid gravel and soil while the other would be a world of cerulean aquatics. It was a stupid cause, at least all of us thought so. But for those cult groups, it made perfect sense, and they were willing to die for it.

That was basically the gist of the war. I got sucked in by the call of duty and ended up in this camouflage suit with an oxygen mask next to my poke-arm. Oh yeah, I should probably explain poke-arms too for those not familiar with the military terms. Basically, in the war, we use pokemon as our weapons. Only specific ones of course, they have to meet our requirements. Which include: they must be over 4'10 inches, they must pertain to one of the following categories; aerial, maritime, and terrestrial, regardless of the type, and they must be fearsome. So there were no Pachirisu's or Beautifly's on the battlefield, there were only savage pokemon that could annihilate a man with one attack. They also had to be of our own region. So you would never see a Sceptile being used by the Kanto Battalion since it was not native to the land and it was much more organized in terms of the way the war was fought. Each side would be killing their own pokemon if they could not tell the difference. Another thing about these pokemon is that they were trained by poke-arm smiths. These were military personnel in charge of domesticating and building up a pokemon to become tame towards its team, and hostile towards the enemy. After they had been completely prepared, they were administered to the airmen, sailor, or foot soldier that was available. Since I am part of the Aerial Command in the Johto region, I would either be getting a Skarmory, Noctowl, or a Crobat. I was crossing my fingers for a skarmory because that would pretty much increase my chances of survival should I ever be attacked. They were made of steel and were very sturdy. They were one of the best aerial poke-arms that someone could ask for which explained why the rest of the regions Air Command's were so envious of ours. But I didn't get it, I ended up being given a Noctowl named Barney. He was a pretty incredible pokemon though. Bold, rough, and extremely obedient. I was very impressed by how intelligent it was. It knew cues very well, even if it hadn't been taught them before, its analytical processing was so advanced that it could decipher my directions without much delay. The smiths really did a spectacular job with our poke-arms and really don't get as much credit as they should.

Anyway, like I said in the beginning, I was being sent out on that support mission and I was so afraid. The casualty reports had been coming back and they were posted up on charts during basic. Thousands die regularly in this war. There were grieving families that would come to our gravesite outside of the training grounds in order to place veladoras on their children's memorial crosses. I remember this one time so clearly, when I was going to the commissary to get toiletries. I had done it plenty of times before and always saw Mikey the employee there with a serious attitude. He would never smile and if you ever tried to joke with him, he would chew your head off. When I got up to the little shop, I saw him at the counter with bloodshot eyes and you could tell he had been crying. I asked what was wrong at my own risk and he told me that one of his best friends had been reported as K.I.A. And then he asked me to please pray for him that night before I went to bed. I don't know why I was so shocked then. Maybe it was because basic was doing such a good job at numbing me to the realities of war until I saw that. I felt like I truly would be invincible like they were saying. Mike from commissary brought me back to planet earth, though. Nonetheless, I made sure to include Mikey and the fallen soldier in my prayers that night.

That day at 15:00 o clock, I was going to a rally to meet up with my new squad. Everyone got squads of six to have each others back, specifically. But we were still in charge of the hundreds in our entire command. I really hoped I got someone I knew from basic but the chances of that were slim seeing as how many guys were being thrown all over the place after being plucked from their homes. I was nervous to meet the other dudes that I would be fighting with. I was mostly nervous about my own impression. I wasn't very confident, and I never have been. And here I was, in charge of the lives of others when sometimes I wasn't even sure if I could trust myself with my own. I really didn't want to let my comrades down. That was one of the things I cared about most here. My brethren. I couldn't bear the thought of any one of the guys around me dying. Especially not after the way I see them talk about their lives, their hobbies, their passions, just everything. It destroys me to think that any one of these fella's would be seeing the robe and the scythe.