Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at writing a fanfic so I hope you all like it! I plan on releasing a new chapter every Friday, and continuing to do so until the story is finished. I don't know how long it will be, but I hope I can make it a decent length while still being interesting. For your convenience, bold lettering is for thoughts and italics are for when pokémon are talking to each other. I'm rating this M just to be safe, I don't plan on getting sexually-detailed later but there will be scenes of intense violence and strong language so I'm just leaning on the safe side. Also as a final note, there will be a human/pokémon relationship later in the story (spoiler), if you're not into that then this will not be the story for you, sorry. Also as a disclaimer, I do not own, nor do I claim to own Pokemon or anything within it. Anyways, with all that out of the way thank you and I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 1: The Mission Begins
"Come on, move it now!" The drill sergeant screamed, "Don't stop! Keep crawling!"
It was two in the morning. The razor wire scraped along the back of Eric's vest. The Unova-born trainee struggled to keep his face out of the mud. Looking to his left and right, he could see the black silhouettes of the other recruits all crawling as well. This was it, the final test before graduating their training. They crawled in the cold mud under razor wire as live bullets were fired mere feet over their heads. Eric looked ahead and could see the objective. A machine gun nest manned by automated turrets, set to only fire above the heads of the recruits. They had to take it out and then secure the "village" behind it.
The objective was still a hundred meters ahead. A hundred more meters of the icy mud and razor wire. Eric spit some mud out and continued crawling. A simulation mortar exploded in a crater ten meters to his right, followed by another fifteen meters to his left. The sounds were deafening. Just a little closer. He thought.
He made the cold and painful crawl the rest of the way, to where the razor wire field ended. He jumped up and ran to the first piece of cover. He was right under the first machine gun nest. Its stone walls towered up a dozen feet to the firing window. Flashes of fire coughed out of the gun's muzzle as it spit bullets down range.
"Hahn! Take that nest out now!" One of the other recruits yelled over the gunfire.
Eric nodded and reached for his belt, grabbing a pokeball.
"Arcanine, you're up!" He yelled, tossing the ball.
Arcanine was released, letting out a howl. He was ready. The fire pokemon ran to Eric's side.
"Go and take out that machine gun! Use flamethrower on it!" Eric yelled.
Arcanine nodded, running back a short distance before turning and jumping up into the nest's window. Once he made onto the large open window that spread across its front, Arcanine leaped inside. Moments later flames engulfed the interior of the machine gun nest. Huge licks of flame jetted out the window. The gun went silent.
Eric smiled, happy with the results. Arcanine jumped out of the nest, landing next to Eric. He congratulated his pokemon by patting him on the head and sprinted around the corner to do the same with the next nest. Moments later the second one was knocked out, and the recruits charged into the fake village. Old houses and mobile homes were scattered about, forming the "streets".
Arcanine gleefully jumped up and down as he ran beside Eric. The training exercise was going well. The recruits got to the fake village, and one squad moved into the first house. Seconds later gunfire could be heard. From the other side, opposing forces made of their drill sergeants bore down on them. The opposing force fired stun rounds into the recruits as they rushed the village, who promptly returned fire with their own stun rounds. Eric ran to cover, firing over it at the opposing force.
Arcanine ran for cover as well. Eric saw an opportunity.
"Arcanine, attack again with flamethrower around the enemy! Pin them down so we can get around them!" Eric ordered. The fire pokemon wasted no time, he jumped up and released the inferno. The drill sergeants covered their faces to protect themselves from the heat as they backed up and leaped into cover. Arcanine kept up the heat, then got hit by a hydro pump. The blast knocked the pokemon against the side of a house, knocking him out.
Shit! Eric thought, calling back the fire pokemon. He scanned to see where the attack came from, then saw a Blastoise lumbering towards the recruits, firing its twin cannons and pinning them down. Eric knew he couldn't waste any time. He grabbed another pokeball.
"Raichu! You're next! Take down that Blastoise!" He called out as he threw the pokeball.
The electric mouse was released and jumped right into action. She leaped onto the roof of a house and ran along it, jumping from roof to roof while dodging the Blastoise's attacks. Once she got close enough, she unleashed a powerful thunderbolt. The Blastoise was electrocuted, stumbling backwards in a daze. The Raichu moved in and finished the large pokemon with a quick attack, tackling the Blastoise and sending it into the wall. It tried to get back on its feet, but collapsed.
Raichu stood victorious, then got attacked by thunderbolt that came from the next roof. Eric looked and saw another Raichu. The two mice pokemon dodged each others' attacks and jumped from building to building. Eric knew he shouldn't battle the same pokemon, so he called Raichu back and released his Garchomp. The dual dragon/ground type roared. The Raichu leaped down onto the ground to face its opponent.
"Quick Garchomp, take it out! Use giga impact!" Eric yelled.
The Garchomp charged forward, slamming into the Raichu with everything he had. The enemy Raichu yelped in pain, being thrown through the wall of a house and landing inside it. The Raichu was out cold. With the enemy pokemon out of the way, Eric focused on helping the others clear the streets of the opposing infantry. Soon, it was all over. There was no more gunfire, just silence of the night. They had won.
"Form up!" A drill sergeant yelled. The recruits quickly ran into a formation. Their uniforms were soaked and covered in mud. They were all wore out, but excited to have finally completed their training. They did it.
"Attention!" Another drill sergeant called out. An officer approached the formation. He had blond hair, was muscular and tall. His uniform was pressed neatly and had "Surge" across the name tape.
"Relax recruits." Lt. Surge began, "I was asked to attend this training event to see how you all preformed. You all did exceedingly well tonight. Damn good job out there."
The Lieutenant grinned, his eyes rested on Eric. "You there! Congratulations, you and your pokemon did an excellent job out there. Your Garchomp seemed to make easy work of my Raichu."
Eric saluted, proud of himself.
"Thank you sir!" he said.
Lt. Surge nodded, then returned the formation to its drill sergeants. The lead drill sergeant stood at attention.
"Get on the bus and head back to the barracks. Get your shit cleaned up and get ready for graduation tomorrow! I'm proud of you all. Fall out!" The drill sergeant yelled.
Six months later:
The morning bugles sounded, rousing Eric from his sleep. He looked over at the clock on the barracks wall, 0500. He hated waking up this early, especially on weekends, but a lot has changed since he enlisted with the Sinnoh Defense Force. It was a small military force, and though a war hasn't been fought in several years, he felt it a duty to serve his home. He lost interest capturing and battling pokémon for competition, and had become more interested in doing what he could to protect everything around him.
At one time he aspired to be a great trainer. He had several battles, even winning three gym badges, but hearing about groups like Team Rocket and Team Plasma from other regions, he felt he needed to do more. He felt he needed to take action to protect those around him, including innocent pokémon. So he left his home and enlisted in the Sinnoh Defense Force.
Eric sat up in bed and stretched his arms, yawning. The other guys in the barracks were already milling about, so Eric quickly jumped up and started getting ready for the day. Orders had come down from Command; his unit was to go out and investigate possible criminal activity on Iron Island. Eric, knowing what he did about villainous organizations from other regions, was worried about one operating in Sinnoh, but he was determined to help put them down before anyone, human or pokémon alike, got hurt by them.
"Alright everyone gather around!" yelled out Sergeant Burke, Eric's squad leader. Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and listened in to what their Sergeant was about to say.
"I'm sure most of you already have an idea of what we're going to be doing today, but I'm here to fill in any gaps." Sergeant Burke began, "Today we're going over to Iron Island, as you heard we have possible criminal activity that we're going to be dealing with."
Eric sat on his bunk, shaving using a mirror to allow him to see while listening in on his squad leader's speech.
"Our intel shows that these guys are very similar in organization to others in the other regions. Our regional neighbors have had problems with groups like Team Rocket in the past, we won't allow that to happen here." the Sergeant paused for a moment, looking around at his men, "We are to go in, investigate any ciminal presence and take them down if we find it. We know that whatever group this is, they have had some sort of dealings with Team Rocket before, so we know they could be very dangerous. That is why when we head out all of you are to grab a rifle and a fair amount of both live ammo and stun rounds for a less lethal approach if we can. I want everyone outside in five minutes for transport."
"Oorah!" the room yelled in unison. Sergeant Burke smiled, then spun on his heels and walked out of the room. Everyone began grabbing their gear and started out the door. Eric was just finishing up and throwing on his vest when Corporal Joseph Cummings came over and helped him with the vest's straps.
"Ready for today man?" Joe smiled and smacked Eric on the back playfully. Eric smiled and punched his friend in the shoulder.
"You know it, let's get out there and make a difference and protect our people," Eric said, attaching his pokéballs to his gear.
The two ran out of the room and got in line for drawing weapons, when it came their turn the Quartermaster handed them each a Type 89, the standard issue rifle of the Defense Forces and several magazines loaded with ammo.
"The mags wrapped with blue tape are loaded with stun rounds, those are to be used to subdue or scare away hostile pokémon and for other situations not requiring lethal force. Keep in mind I said 'hostile', don't fire at any pokémon unless you or another soldier is directly under attack by one," the Quartermaster stated, clearly bored with her job, "Go ahead and lock a magazine of stun rounds into your rifles, but do not chamber until you get to Iron Island."
Eric and Joe both nodded in acknowledgement to the Quartermaster, slapping a magazine into their rifles. They both walked outside onto the drill yard, and headed to the transport truck where the others waited. Sergeant Burke lit a cigar and took a puff, watching the two young soldiers approach. He felt a swell of pride, it was good to see youth still stepping up to protect others by joining the Defense Force, though he didn't feel it was right to send such young people into something that could prove very dangerous very quickly. He pushed the thought aside.
"Good to have you two show up," chuckled the Sergeant, lightly chewing on the end of the cigar, "Get in the truck, we're heading out now."
Everyone climbed into the transport, and the truck's tarp was drawn over the bed's frame. They needed to get to the coast without raising too much suspicion. They didn't want to cause any alarm with the general population, but they also didn't want to potentially alert the criminals to any possible military activity. The ride was long and bumpy, but within a few hours they made it.
They arrived at a private government dock, a Defense Force transport ship awaited them. The squad wasted no time, they got onto the ship which made way to Iron Island in the distance. Once out in open water, Eric leaned against the side of the ship, looking down into the water. Occasionally he'd see a magikarp beneath of water's surface. He let out a sigh and closed his eyes. He was a little nervous, maybe it was because this was his first real mission, but he had a feeling deep in his gut that something really bad was going to happen. Joe came over, sensing something was bothering his friend and patted him on the shoulder.
"You ok man? You look nervous," Joe asked.
Eric looked at his friend and smiled, pushing the gut feeling away, "Nothing man, I'm fine, just a little worried about this being my first mission."
Joe laughed, "That's it? Don't worry about a thing dude, You have all of us at your side, and you have your own pokémon to help back you up, we got this."
Eric nodded, then said, "Thanks man, I appreciate it."
A few moments past, Joe pulled out a photo and stared at it. Eric glanced over and saw it was a photo of a girl.
"Your girlfriend?" he asked.
Joe looked at it for another second before putting it away, "Yea, she's a great person. I miss her sometimes, she lives in the Hoenn Region." Eric smiled and nodded, "So when are you going to get a girl of your own Eric?"
Eric chuckled and his gaze dropped back to the water, "I don't know man, I guess I'm just waiting for the right one to come along."
Joe patted Eric on the shoulder again, "Well, whoever she is, she'd going to be very lucky. You're a good guy."
Eric smiled again, "Thanks man."
The ship's horn sounded, they were about to dock at Iron Island. Joe walked away to join the others in the squad. Eric looked at the Island, then grabbed his rifle and began to join up with the others. Let's do this, he thought to himself.
A few months ago, Iron Island:
The cage was lowered to the ground, inside it a frightened Gardevior, Gallade and their young Ralts sat huddled together. Other cages containing various pokémon was being lined up for examination. A few Team Rocket grunts watched over the captives as a few Team Galactic members approached. The lead Team Rocket grunt jumped off a cage and walked up to the Team Galactic leader.
"Here they are, as ordered. I'm sure your commander will be pleased with the specimens gathered here" the Team Rocket grunt said with a cruel smile.
The Team Galactic leader, Mars, looked around at the pokémon, seemingly pleased. "Alright then, here's the money, as agreed." She pulled out an envelope and handed it to the Team Rocket grunt.
"Hang on now, see that gardevoir over there? She just hatched a Ralts a few days ago, I think that increases the amount of money we deserve." snickered the grunt, pointing at the cage containing the small pokémon family.
Mars glared at him, then said, "The money is in there, that's what was agreed and that's all your boss is getting."
The grunt looked furious at what Mars said, he and several others pulled out their pokéballs and threatened Team Galactic, "Bullshit, we demand more money, otherwise your boss isn't getting anything."
Mars smiled and glared at the brave grunt, she then chuckled, "Heh, fine then. Have it your way." She snapped her fingers and the Team Galactic members behind her pulled sub-machine guns and gunned down the Team Rocket members before they could react. Gunshots rang out for several seconds, the caged pokémon cowered, trying to avoid being hit. The Gallade pulled the Gardevoir and the little Ralts closer. It's okay, I have you, I won't let them hurt you. The Gallade told his mate and child, though it didn't help the Ralts from crying.
Once the firing stopped, the Team Rocket member that defied Mars laid on the ground bleeding out. He coughed up some blood before saying, "You...c-can't do this! When Giovanni finds out!"
Another shot rang out, Mars held a pistol, having just shot the Team Rocket member dead, she put the handgun away, laughing. "Your pathetic leader isn't going to do anything." She looked over at the Team Galactic members, "Well what are you waiting for! Clean up this mess and get these pokémon to the camp!" She yelled. The others scrambled to do their thing, trucks began to pull in to pick up the caged pokémon. Mars watched as her men worked, she smiled to herself and looked up towards the sky. She knew these pokémon would make good additions to the work force, they would be needed for what Team Galactic had planned.
That is it for the first chapter! I hope you all enjoyed it, as this is helping to set up the story for what is to come. If you'd like, please leave me a review, I'll be sure to read any that are posted for me to see, though I must request that no flame reviews are posted. They don't do anything to help me improve and only serve to try to hurt people's feelings and there's no need for it. Otherwise thanks again and I hope to post the next chapter next Friday or maybe sooner! Peace!