0006 ADR
Sinnoh
The snow fell down from the sky at a steady pace. It had been falling for days now with no sign of letting up. The inhabitants of the area could only count their blessings that it had been inconsistent in amount. It always snowed, but it was still staying light and low enough that they could travel around. The one's that had to move cursed their luck that they didn't hibernate like the other Pokemon in the area.
A Sneasel waited in the trees near by lake Acuity. He had been holding back in the branches for a while now since the battle had taken place above. Every Pokemon in the area had heard the sounds of battle was something everyone had gotten used to in the world after the undampening. Only when they saw Rayquaza was the source did many of them bolt for cover and hide. Everyone knew the power of a legendary and the highest chance a Pokemon had was not getting noticed by the walking demigods.
Sneasel had hidden in the tree and counted his blessings that Rayquaza wasn't interested in drafting Pokemon from the area. He felt even luckier when he saw one of the humans climb from the lake and collapse on the shoreline. Were he a less cautious Pokemon he would have dived down and finished off the human before stealing what it could. It held back due to his concern that there might be other Pokemon nearby ready to take his meal. To his eyes the human seemed to have passed out, and he could wait to see if anyone else was going to lay claim.
"I'll show them… I can survive out here without their help." The Sneasel said to himself as he began to move down the tree.
Steven, meanwhile, felt himself slowly come to after passing out from the high altitude drop. His vision was flooded with lights shining against the darkness that made it impossible for him to see. After a few moments of letting his eyes adjust he realized he was staring at the heads up display from his helmet. The readings came into focus as he let his vision adapt to seeing through the display again.
Behind the H.U.D he could see nothing but darkness and snow. From what he could tell he had been sleeping for a while and had accumulated a layer of the frozen water over his body. He slightly twitched each part of his body to see if anything was broken and when each movement provided no pain he began to up the movement. Bringing his hands up he felt the snow start to fall off his body as he moved.
"Approaching hostile Pokemon." Porygon said with an unnatural calmness.
"Wha-? SHIT!" Steven said.
His jetpack flared to life and shot him forwards into the piles of snow in front of him. Rolling to a stop he looked back at where he was just laying to see a Sneasel with it's claws buried in the snow right where his neck once was. Standing up he adjusted his gun hanging off his back before reaching for his combat knife strapped to his leg.
"Sne sne sneasel sne!" The pokemon taunted readying it's claws.
"Translating…" Porygon said, "You-should-have-just-lay-there."
"Thanks, I kinda got the intent. Fukin wild Pokemon…" Steven said holding the knife before him and angling his body against the Sneasels own.
He held the knife in his left hand before him in a defensive position. He was naturally right handed but with his artificial arm was his right and he wanted to keep the gun ready in case. The Sneasel had pulled out it's claws and started moving across the top of the snow in a circle around Steven.
Steven realized that its own ice type allowed it far greater maneuverability on the snow then he could manage. It had already piled up enough to reach his calves and was likely going to slow his movement's down enough for the Pokemon to have free reign with his attacks. Keeping his knife in between them he did his best to turn with the Sneasel while pounding down the snow at his feet.
As the Pokemon circled around him it started to add more complex movements to it's actions. Diving in, leaping over him and launching a series of feint attacks all to keep him off balance. Steven's only saving grace at the moment was that the Pokemon apparently didn't want to use any high powered moves. He surmised it was to keep the battle local and not attract unwanted attention for either of them.
As Steven watched his opponent the Sneasel vanished in a burst of speed and he felt the resounding clang of it's claws on his armor. Porygon immediately brought up the suits damage indicator showing Steven where the cut landed. From the fact that his entire suit was still colored green over the H.U.D he realized it hadn't dealt much damage. His inspection of the damage was interrupted by another clang and he felt his knee buckle as the force of the attack his his armor.
"That's what I get for not paying attention." Steven said with irritation as he watched the Sneasel taunt him from out of his range, "Fine you little shit let's dance."
He watched as the Pokemon began maneuvering around him again readying it's next attack. Steven kept his eyes on the Pokemon as it moved. Watching the Sneasel's feet he saw them twist as it launched its next attack. Coming from the side of him, Steven simply let his body shift and move directly towards the attack.
The Sneasel vanished as it charged him once again. This time its attack was cut off as Steven leapt from his position to meet the attack head on. The claw attack that was meant to cut into the less protected parts of the armor now met head on with Steven's heavily armored shoulder of Steven. Sneasel's claw hit the shoulder guard and actually imbedded itself in the armor.
The kinetic force of his charging attack then caught up with him as the Pokemon felt its body smash into Steven's. What was meant to be a hit and run now crashed head on in to the human's full mass and Sneasel felt the wind get knocked out of it as his torso hit Steven's body. Bouncing off he felt his claw come lose and himself fall to the snow below.
Before he could move he felt something heavy hit his chest. Looking down he saw the shining steel of the combat knife sticking out of his chest. Steven stood above the Sneasel looking about, unconcerned with the fact that the Pokemon was dying. As Sneasel's blood flowed onto the snow Steven sat down next to the gasping Pokemon and adjusted his helmet, lifting off the faceplate and looking about the area.
"Damn, how far off course did we end up?" He asked to no one around him.
Sliding back down his faceplate he grabbed the knife from where it was embedded in Sneasel's chest. With a twist and a pull he yanked the metal from the Pokemon and watched as it let out a cry of pain before death finally took it. Wiping off the blood on the snow he slid the knife back into it's holster.
"Pssft, Wild Pokemon sure have gotten weak again. Hardly even worth denting my armor for you." He said as he kicked a pile of snow onto the corpse to cover the body.
After he buried the body of the Sneasel he lifted up his left arm and began tapping buttons on his Poke glove. Unlike the trainer designed ones this was meant to seamlessly integrate with his armor. It also traded features found in normal gloves, Pokemon storage and various utility functions, for more specialized abilities. One of those was a direct H.U.D connection allowing him to view the information provided by the glove without needing it's excessive hologram setup.
He brought up the map of Sinnoh and activated the short range radar. A line connected from the top of the map to the middle and began to slowly rotate across the area around him. Minimizing the map while it searched he brought up the roster and began to update the list.
"Styler… dead, Jefferson… dead, Curtis… dead." He went through the entire list updating the mission roster with all the confirmed deaths he witnessed first hand during the disastrous drop, "Shit... the only one left is likely Kyle."
His attention was drawn away by the sound of a ping signaling to him that the scan of the area was done. Bringing up the map again he viewed the area around him. He felt himself relax slightly at the sight of a strong Poke glove signal north of his area. Even more important than that was the signal of the last Overseer suit near the Poke glove signal. If he started out now he would likely meet up with them within a few hours.
"Porygon package the updated mission roster list and attach vocal file to it. Begin recording now, Stealth drop failure, one Overseer and one team member alive, continuing mission, over." Steven said letting his voice get recorded by the suit.
"You forgot your codename and authenticator code." The digital Pokemon prompted.
Steven let out a sigh at the reminder, "Code name, Righty, authenticator code four four seven one dash A as in asshole." He said irritably as the recorder shut off, "Send once one of the rapid orbit satellites comes within range.
"Yes sir." The Pokemon replied.
With a sigh Steven began trekking through the show hoping the weather held out long enough for him to make good progress. He wasn't worried that much about Pokemon he'd meet along the way. Any nearby would have seen his battle and would be more interested in the carcass of Sneasel than him. The Poke glove radar remained on despite his confidence and maintained a passive scan of the area at all times.
The trees overhead were a welcome respite from the snowfall and heavy collection but after an hour of traveling he was greeted with the sight of the mountainous rock of the Sinnoh north. The trees thinned then nearly vanished as only shrubs and bushes grew in the weak and sparse soil around the rocky area.
Checking his Poke glove again he saw that the nearer of the two friendly beacons was the trooper's signal. He was thankful that the point was moving on it's own towards his position. A clear indicator that Kyle was alive and well. Minimizing the map again Steven glanced at the rock and had a silent debate over what to do next. He could waste his own energy trying to climb the rocky surfaces or he could waste his suits energy by using his Golbat drop pack to traverse the terrain.
"Fuck it, I'm damned either way. Might as well travel in style." He said feeling the pack on his back flare up at his mental command.
With a burst of speed he leapt into the air directly towards the nearest outcropping of rock. Landing on the snow slick surface he didn't wait for his feet to adjust to the slippery surface and instead lifted off again. His movement rapidly accelerated over the rocky terrain as he bounced across the rocks and stones. Cresting one last hill he looked down to see Kyle below him waving his arms back and forth to signal him.
Letting his pack activate it's glide option he felt himself slowly floating down as Porygon kept track of his speed and controlled descent. Landing in the snow near Kyle he let the pack maintain its upward thrust until he secured his feet on ground that wouldn't slip out from underneath him. Seconds later his pack powered down and the wings providing thrust lowered themselves back onto his backpack.
"Steven… oh I mean sir." Kyle said with a salute.
"Stop that." He replied.
"Oh… sorry. You're still the commanding officer now. I guess I have to follow your orders from this point on." Kyle said.
"Heh, commanding officer, that's a joke. Our mission is still the same, we get to that Overseer and hope it's still running and then we make our way south." Steven said.
"So no cutting out losses and running then?" Kyle asked.
"No." Steven replied.
He didn't wait for a reply instead orienting himself towards the Overseer signal. Not bothering to wait for Kyle he started walking over the rocks and stones of the mountainous region. His attention was drawn back to Kyle as he spoke up.
"We're not going to use our packs?" He asked.
"Not if we can help it. The Overseer is our only source of power and if that thing is too badly damaged it'll mean we have to conserve our resources. Steven replied.
"You think it's going to be damaged?" He asked.
"It took a full hit from Rayquaza and hasn't moved yet. I'm going to assume it is until proven otherwise." Steven said.
"What the hell was that Legendary doing here anyways?" Kyle asked.
"Probably its own mission. It didn't pursue me into the lake when I splashed down so I think it had more pressing matters to deal with than one lone commando." Steven said.
With no further questions from the rookie, Steven focused more on moving forward than trying to keep the conversation going. The two traveled in silence moving about the snowy mountain with practiced ease. Steven remembered the rigorous training the squad went through to prep for the mission. At least a month was spent in all forms of terrain to get them acclimated to the various issues of each one.
"That was time well spent." He thought bitterly.
A signal from his Poke glove indicated that the two were approaching the site of the downed Overseer, "Hey is that smoke?" Kyle asked looking further up the mountain.
Steven lifted his head and looked up at the ridge above them. At first he couldn't see what Kyle was talking about then his eyes adjusted slightly and he started seeing a trail of white cloud coming up from beyond the ridge. Mentally switching over the vision provided by the suit the world turned a blue and red to his eyes and he was able to see with perfect clarity the vapors rising from the mountain ahead.
"No, it's too white to be smoke, looks more like steam." He said approaching the rocks blocking their line of sight.
Signaling Kyle to hold wait he glanced over the rock to the small valley where the Overseer had landed. The first thing he saw was the mech in question. It's torso had a large indent but the mech looked to be in once piece. The second thing he noticed was the small group of Aipom and Ambipom on the other side of a small lake in the center.
The smoke and vapor come out of the lake and Steven guessed it was a hot springs of sorts. The Overseer was located at one end in a sitting position and looked powered down. Around it's base was a fairly large pile of rocks that had gathered around it. Steven wasn't sure how it ended up like that until he saw an Aipom grab a rock with it's tail and lob it over at the mech. The rock scored a direct hit and the Pokemon all screeched and cheered at the hit.
"Damn… Well at least they're unlikely to hurt the mech." Steven said.
"What's up?" Kyle asked keeping an eye out for anything sneaking up on them.
"There are some Aipom and Ambipom down there chucking rocks at the Overseer." Steven replied.
"No shit?" Kyle asked standing up and glancing over the rock, "Wow you're right… should we take them out?"
"Doesn't seem necessary. Even after the dampener those Pokemon never really got aggressive. Plus Ho-oh apparently never tried to recruit them, too much thrown shit not enough actual progress I'd guess." Steven replied, "Think you can get the mech online?"
"Yeah, I got my kit ready. What are you going to do?" Kyle asked.
"Likely get hit with some rocks and shit I'd imagine." Steven said with resignation.
Leaping up over the rock he jumped off and felt his thrusters activate. Gliding down he pulled out his sidearm and fired a shot into the air as he descended. The gunshot echoed throughout the valley and the Aipom and Ambipom scattered immediately letting him land amongst the area they had just occupied with ease. He held his pistol ready not because he expected the Pokemon to fight him but more because he expected to have to make them scatter again.
He watched as Kyle glided down next to the Overseer and pulled out a small toolkit from a pack below his Golbat drop pack. Each of the men in his squad had their own job to do. Some were medics, some engineers like Kyle, and others were mine layers and detectors. Steven's own job was ammunition carrying and communications. His own pack had an abundance of ammo and a built in communicator to hook up with the rapid orbit satellites.
Steven's attention was drawn towards the Pokemon as he felt one of their rocks smack against his suits helmet. Like the Overseer it was unlikely to damage him or his suit but it still wasn't an enjoyable experience getting hit with rocks. Seeing another head towards him he stepped aside and watched as it clattered on the ground before him. The Aipom and Ambipom's cries filled the valley as he watched them hop up and down at the edge.
"Can we speed up the repair, I would like to leave here before they run out of rocks." Steven said sidestepping another projectile.
"You can't rush genius Steven." Kyle replied.
"Which is why I'm rushing you!" He said as he watched another Aipom lob something he couldn't recognize towards him.
Avoiding the object and hearing it splat behind him he inwardly grimaced at the idea that all his training and skill was being tested by shit throwing Pokemon, "Steven it's done!" Kyle said as the suit began to glow as power flowed through it.
"Well can we get out of here then?" He asked.
"Not until the host psychic gets back inside and starts controlling it." Kyle said.
"Son of a goddmanmit." Steven replied, "Fine at least get over here so I'm not the only one getting stuff thrown at it."
"Oh… I would but there's… stuff… that needs fixing on this thing." Kyle said.
"You…" Steven said.
His curse was cut short as the ridge the Aipom and Ambipom were hiding behind was riddled with explosions. Kyle fell backwards at the sudden movement of the Overseer as it stood up and pushed off the pile of rocks near it. It kept it's heavy machine gun pointed at the ridge while it sent a communication to Steven.
"Seems my systems are working fine so far. Can we leave before they get more aggressive?" A female voice asked.
While it was heavily synthesized as all Overseer voices were the fact that it was female meant that the operator was also likely female as well. Steven inwardly groaned as that meant that it was likely another one of Anabel's female prodigies. He had worked with psychics before and he knew Anabel's school was always easier on the girls than the guys.
"Yes let's go." He said feeling his pack flare up behind him.
The trio moved with speed through the snowy mountains. The goal was no longer finding each other but getting out of the area as quickly as possible. Their movement and weapon fire was likely going to draw in many Pokemon from around the area eager to fight humans for whatever reason. The Aipom and Ambipom didn't bother following them. Their hotsprings was vacated and that's all they cared about.
The treeline fast approached and the trio moved into the woods with little difficulty. It took Steven a few moments before he realized the two were following him. He realized he was the highest ranked officer in the group. Overseers had higher ranks but they deferred to officers in the field to avoid chain of command issues. It was going to take him a while to get used to the fact that the squad, small as it was, was now under his command.
"Alright hold up here." He said indicating an upcoming stream.
The group slowed, then stopped, at the now frozen stream. It was barely five feet across and was likely one of the many small sources of water that fed into lake Acuity. The reason he chose to stop here was little more that it being the only noticeable terrain feature besides trees.
"What's the hold up?" Kyle asked.
"We need to do a resource count and our Overseer needs to be checked out fully before we can continue." Steven replied.
"I already said my systems are working fine." The audio voice from the mech said.
"It's SOP and I don't care to take chances. If we had a full squad I'm sure it wouldn't be an issue but we don't. Plus we need to check your power source to see if it's still working properly." Steven said.
"I already know it is…" The mech said in as best a disingenuous voice as it could manage.
"Kyle step on it. The sooner we do this the sooner I can get our mech to stop whining." Steven said moving to the back of the suit, "Your power's going to cut for the next few minutes."
"Got it." The Overseer said.
With that Steven activated several buttons on the back of the mech between it's own jump pack. The next instant a long narrow section slid out and the mech slumped down like a puppet with it's strings cut. Without bothering to comment on the peace and quiet surrounding the two Steven went to work checking out the couplings and reactor in it's back.
The psychic felt her astral projection float up from the back of the mech as the two went to work on it. While her spirit had to remain in the area so she could posses the mech when the two were done looking it over she was able to use this time to check in with her own superiors. It was much like speaking over a radio and listening in on a headset. She couldn't use her body in any great way but it's eyes and ears still projected things to her.
With a simple mental command she felt her brain begin to send out waves of energy from her body. It's only purpose was to signal whoever was in the immediate area near her body that she was ready to communicate. In the next few seconds she felt the telltale signs of something touching her body and a voice projected itself into her mind.
"Are you alright?" The female voice asked.
"Yes Anabel," The psychic replied, "The mission is going badly though."
"I know, we heard from Cass when her Overseer got destroyed. The military just sent us a report themselves. Apparently nearly the entire squad was wiped out. Sadly Steven's message wasn't that informative so we'd appreciate an update." Anabel said.
"The jump was a disaster and it appears the only other survivors are Steven and Kyle. My Overseer is undamaged as far as the systems are concerned and they're doing a full systems check right now. I don't know if we can complete the majority of our objectives but I wouldn't put it past Steven to attempt it." She replied, "All of our jump packs are undamaged though so we can probably make it to the primary contact without much of an issue. It all depends on if he wants to try to complete our objectives first.
"Well you know him best. Do you think you'll get another chance to contact us again?" Anabel asked.
"I don't know. It seems unlikely with how few we are. I'll do my best but I can't promise anything. If Rayquaza is still in the area we're going to have a devil of a time doing anything, much less keeping in constant contact." She said.
"I see. Hopefully by the next contact the higher ups will have a better idea as to what they want you to do. Until then all of you are to stay safe and alive until you meet up with your primary contact in the area. Understood?" Anabel asked.
"Understood ma'am." She replied.
She looked down from her astral projection and saw Steven slide back in her mech's power core, "Oh and one more thing…" Anabel said drawing her attention back to her teacher.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Good luck Lisa." Anabel replied.
"Yes ma'am." Lisa said before she felt her getting drawn into her mech again.