Chapter 2: This Is War

William Landry awoke to a find a blizzard raging outside of his window which, while not too unusual for Snowpoint City, did make getting around that much harder of a task. Though he supposed that this kind of thing was to be expected when one lived living in the snow capital of Pantera. Groggily he dragged himself out of bed to get dressed thankful that he wouldn't have to leave the house that day to work his job at the Temple. William was a clerk at the Town's crown jewel accomplishment, the newly restored Snowpoint Temple. Many years ago the old temple had crumbled during an earthquake and only recently had the town received a surprising grant from the Overlord to restore it to its former glory.

The restoration process had been a slow one because of the large amount of damage that had been done; fortunately however though the walls had crumbled the foundation had remained more or less intact. The reconstruction team that he had headed had caught another break when a very old set of blueprint had been found in the largely unaffected basement preserved by the subzero temperatures. The whole project must have taken them at least three years but now that it was over William felt that the end was well worth all the hours he and his team and their Pokémon had spent toiling away in the cold.

Now that he was out of bed William stumbled over to his mirror to get ready as he usually would. This was a trick he had learned from living in Snowpoint City for the last five years, even if there was a blizzard and he couldn't even leave his house keeping to a normal schedule was a must or he would get lazy and sit around all day and quickly succumb to cabin fever. He looked into the mirror and saw what he saw every morning, a twenty year old man who had been turned into a product of his environment. He was not a fat man but neither was he skinny, skinny people did not last long in the extreme cold of the mountains. His shoulder length white hair lay straight on his head and was extremely helpful as an extra layer of insulation when he went exploring in the mountains. As clerk at the museum his responsibilities included not only looking after the many texts in the library that had been found when the basement was excavated, but also journeying to the nearby villages to collect any newly discovered texts that had been lost long ago in the great earthquakes. As he pulled on his usual attire, a pair of dark blue jeans and a black long sleeved shirt his mind returned to a book he was reading.

The book was nearly destroyed by age but from what he could make of it William though that it looked a lot like a diary of a man who had lived centuries ago. There were numerous references to a place called Sky Pillar and even more to something the book referred to as the red chain. While he was very interested in reading more about these oddities he had been in a hurry to get out of the Temple last night having noticed the signs of today's blizzard and in his scrabble to get home before he was trapped in the Temple by the ice storm had left the diary there.

Sighing he resigned himself to a day of looking over his maps and planning a new expedition to some villages that sent word of new findings for the Temple's library. The route he was planning looked like it may take him near Celestic Town and him though he may as well plan a visit though not much had been heard from the town in a few years. William always wanted to visit the supposedly history filled town but the opportunity just never presented its self.

William worked for the entire day planning his route, painstakingly noting which paths were open and which would be suicide to try to cross at this time of year. By then time night fell he was mentally exhausted and more than ready to close his eyes but before he did he took one last look outside and was rewarded with signs that the ferocious was beginning to die down and the likely hood of him leaving to return to the Temple to get the diary before he set out on his journey was looking much better.

William did not awake the next day at noon as he planned the next day. Instead he was ripped from slumber by the sounds of a commotion outside. Bolting out of bed he ran to his window to look at what was making enough noise to wake him over the winds of the still blowing storm. What he saw nearly floored him; fires were burning all over the city as a mob of Royal Guards stormed through the snow-covered streets in the direction of the Temple.

Instantly he knew what was happening, this had to be one of the Royal Guard's infamous raiding parties. Every so often Overlord Sharakor would decide that the towns around Dragon's Reach, his mountain fortress, were growing to content so he would send out a legion of his guards to remind them who was in charge. It was a barbaric practice that served no purpose but to spread fear among the people of Pantera which was of course exactly the reason for its existence.

William was a peaceful man and though he was an adept battler he preferred reading and gathering knowledge to fighting, but every man has his line that if crossed will bring out a side of him that is unrecognizable and these guards had just crossed his. Within a minute he had dressed himself in his travel gear and was storming after the guards his Pokémon on a belt around his waist.

As he ran through the streets William tried to comprehend what was happening, why had the Overlord funded their project to rebuild the Temple if he was simply going to send a force to destroy it? Was he really that cruel to give a gift such as that only to rip it away so suddenly? No William thought this had to be more involved than that, but what was the reason? In his state of anger and confusion William hardly noticed the cold or even the snow that whipped by his face soaking his hair, the only thing he could think about was stopping these men by whatever means possible. He reached the temple to find that the guard has already begun to start burning it. It was not the building its self that William worried about, their fire would hardly hurt the solid stone walls, but rather the vast library that was perhaps Pantera's best link to its past.

"Go Walrien" He bellowed over the roaring winds catching the attention of the nearest group of guards who were lighting torches no doubt to be used on his precious books. "Use Hydro Pump!" Walrien complied without hesitation seeing the anger and determination in William's eyes proceeding to blast the would-be arsonists with a surge of high pressured water emanating from deep in his throat. The guards were propelled by the stream of water into another larger group of Guards members who turned to face this unexpected threat.

The group consisted of around twenty guards each with his own team of Pokémon but William didn't care he would face them all if that was what it took to defend his sanctuary. At the head of the group clad in a deep red robe was a short man with a narrow face and a sinister smile. William recognized him immediately as the one called The Fire Snake, also known as the Overlord's personal hit man. Upon seeing William and his Pokémon the short man let out a laugh of contempt and took a step forward to address William.

"So this is Snowpoints resistance is it?" He asked to no one in particular "One chubby albino and his pet walrus? What exactly is it that you hope to accomplish with this foolish attack?"

"I'm here to protect that library!" William yelled back "And if it means fighting every single one of you then I will! You will regret setting foot in my city!" He bluffed knowing full well that he could not take on this many well trained soldiers with no one else to help him. The assassin immediately called his bluff with another condescending laugh and was soon joined by his men as the whole company save those who were still recovering from Walrien's attack mocked him.

"Very well have it your way then." The man said resignedly as if he didn't wish to fight the young man. "But I will not allow you to fight my entire company I would hate to see the blood of such a brave man spilled so carelessly. I will make a deal with you; if you can defeat my Pokémon then we will leave you in peace and not return. You have my word, however if I win our contest then you will surrender your Pokémon to the care of the Overlord and will return to stay with us in his majesties palace, in the dungeons of course but in the house of your king none the less." Seeing that he had dug himself in to far William accepted the wager and prepared for battle. With a lazy flick of his wrist The Fire Snake released his Pokémon, a particularly deadly looking Forretress.

"Walrien use Ice Beam!" William commanded. The great creature let loose a beam of cold air that froze the water vapor in the air around it shooting a harpoon of ice straight at the enemy. Forretress was largely undamaged as the attack bounced of its hard shell.

"Forretress Rapid Spin!" Countered the assassin, and his Pokémon closed what small holes its shell had contained and adopted a direct path as it sped like a top towards Walrien who was far too slow to dodge such an attack. Having not been able to make a move to avoid the wrecking ball like attack Walrien took the full force of the blow and slid back several yard on the ice that was forming on the street from Walrien's earlier Hydro Pump attack. This gave William an idea and he slowly started to form a plan.

"Walrien, use Hydro Pump on the street!" Alex commanded. The large Pokémon was confused but complied with is demands. Within seconds the entire street was covered in a thin layer of water several inches thick. "Now use Ice Beam to freeze the water!" The maneuver worked perfectly and the street turned into a slick ice rink. By this point William had long since realized that there was not a chance he would be set free regardless of the outcome of this battle and he had just found what he was looking for, a distraction. "Use Blizzard! Make it a big one!" William screamed over the cries of the soldier who could not keep their balance and were falling all over themselves trying to get to him having realized his plan a moment too late.

As the winds picked up from Walrien's attack William returned the Pokémon in a flash of red light and fled the scene before The Red Snake could grab hold of the situation and chase after him. This was far from over but he could do more for his town if he was captured or killed. He would continue to fight but first he needed to get away from the overwhelming force that would put his plans for revenge to rest with force, but this was not the end he told himself this was war.

His travel backpack filled with supplies was waiting for him at his home and he grabbed it with a pang of sadness to have to abandon the place he had called home for the past five years. After one look around to see if anyone was coming and to make sure he was not being followed he fled into the dark towards the mountains and eventually Celestic Town the first stop on his journey to the unknown.

A warning to the prophet, the liar, the honest
This is war
Oh, to the leader, the pariah, the victim, the messiah
This is war

This Is War-30 Seconds To Mars