Chapter 2
"Aww, look at her, she's fallen asleep." Alice cooed with a smile on her face. The Lucario slowly rocked the vulpix as if to comfort her in her sleep. She looked at the Zoroark ahead of her, and asked "So boss, what's in the bag?" the Zoroark gave her a sideways look, and said "I'll tell you later; but I will say its contents are strange to say the least." Alice accepted that answer without complaint, though she wasn't happy about it. Their teammates were less willing to accept that answer. "Really boss? Why not? It's not like she's carrying state secrets or anything like that… is she? Cause I very much value my head." Buck Leafeon demanded. Jessie Flareon gave her mate a glare, before saying "No disrespect intended boss, but I do agree with him; if there is anything dangerous in that bag we have to know about it Colt." Colt "Boss" Zoroark sighed and said, "I don't know, the only thing that I'm uncertain about is this strange metallic device. We'll have to look at it later." They tried to bug him about it more, but it was clear that Colt was done with the conversation.
After an Hour they reached the town. Farms dotted the surrounding area, a small house every few acres. A wooden palisade stretched around the center of the town, separating the wooden and stone buildings from the farms around it. The two guards at the front gate saw them and personally greeted them. "Heya Marshals, see ya' caught tha' bad guy you was lookin fo'." The left guard, a Lycanroc by the name of Rodeo exclaimed happily; his eyes still scanning the crowd for anything off. The Right guard, a Serperior; scoffed at his friend. "Yes, I am quite certain that a measly little Graveler couldn't best the mighty 'team Archangel.' In any case, I assume it went well Marshals, I see you have him prisoner now. Oh! What is this?" His eyes, which had been scanning the crowd as well, suddenly spotted the mass of white Fur in Alice's arms. He peered at it curiously, then said "She's clearly a Pokémon, but what species I wonder… she looks like a shiny vulpix, but they aren't that color." Alice shrugged in response before saying "I don't know Weston, but she's regrettably lost her memories, so I doubt we're getting any answers from her. Now if you don't mind, we have a fugitive to turn in." Gesturing at the gagged and handcuffed Graveler; The Serperior, Weston, shook himself and said "Oh… Yes of course, go ahead to the guild."
It was always fun for the Marshals to talk to the two guards at the gate, poor guys stood there all day with only 10 minute breaks every 3 hours. And they always had something to say to them, even if it was just congrats on a job well done, like today. Though they did have pretty good knowledge about the comings and goings of businessmen and nobles in the area, and they always seemed to know all the latest rumors that circulated around. They were also some of the few that didn't treat them like celebrities whenever they saw them. Inside the wall was a mish mash of almost renaissance style buildings, with some stone buildings thrown into it. At the center of town stood a large hill, with a tall pavilion at the top. That was the guild, the very center of what was known as Silver River town. Team Archangel walked up the steps, Jessie and Buck flanking Graveler, Colt in the lead, with Alice trailing behind, holding the still asleep Snow in her arms. At the entrance of the pavilion was a gate, behind it was a Machoke sitting in a small stool, next to a winch.
Upon seeing team archangel he stood up from his stool and walked over to the winch and started turning it to open the grate. After a minute he got it open and gestured them inside. The team and their charges walked down a large spiral staircase until they came into a large room. Over a dozen stalls lined the walls on each side, some selling various wares, others seemed to be doing bureaucratic things, the likes of which team Archangel had no need for. This was the guild, a mixture of a market, government building, law enforcement, and exploration. The Guild was built into the hill, each level holding a purpose. It could easily hold 1000 Pokémon in times of emergency, which had only been necessary on two occasions in recent memory. The first two levels were largely open to the public, the third and fourth level was mainly for guild members, and the fifth level was only open too high ranking Guild members, Government members, and High ranking teams.
This fifth level was team Archangels destination, as their prisoner was very important; and their unexpected companion needed to be reported on. Colt was not looking forward to either case, so he decided to divide and conquer. "Buck, Jess take our friend to the prison area. Make sure you get our reward for the warrant. Meet us back at the base" They both nodded and turned to leave. Before they could, Alice growled at him "I hope your happy Graveler, hurting and traumatizing this poor kid. You better get ready for your new home, it's called Andersonville Prison. And from what I hear, even the prisoners hold criminals like you with low regard." She flashed him a vindictive smile, and his eyes widened with fear, and struggled a little. Buck took out a leaf blade and slashed his back. "Don't struggle buddy, you earned this." He snarled as he prodded him to move forward. Colt watched them go; before shaking himself of his unease, and he nodded to Alice to follow them. He never liked being down here, the Pokémon were always crisp, cold, and blunt; the exact opposite of Lone wolf explorers like his team. The two of them continued through the halls, until they reached an atrium of sorts. Despite his dislike for the place, it never ceased to amaze him.
No one was sure where the Guild came from. Most theorized that the whole complex used to be a Precursor construction. The walls and supports were made of materials no one understood. The supports were made of metal, but no one knew what kind, and it was so durable, not even the hottest fire type move could mold it. The walls were like rock, but were so smooth that it was clear that it wasn't. He remembered reading somewhere in an article that the material was something the Precursors called "concreate." Not a lot was known about the Precursors, except that they had been an extremely advanced race, far more advanced than Pokékind. He shook himself again, now was not the time for a history lesson. He looked at the logo on the ground, it was one of the few things everyone knew about the precursors. It was a shield, on the top right and bottom left was a gold and black checker pattern. On the upper left and bottom right was a red and white cross. Above the shield was an inscription that said "Fatti maschii, parole femine" which historians had translated to "Manly Deeds, Womanly Words." It was the kingdoms motto as well.
Colt and Alice came to a halt outside two wooden doors, a desk in front of them. The secretary looked up from his paper work, gave them a passing look, and said "Go inside. The Guild master is waiting for you." Colt nodded in affirmative; and the two of them walked to the doors. Colt pushed them open and walked inside the large office. There sat the Guild Master, the de-facto Governor of the town, and representative of the royal family. He was an Emboar, and he had an arrogant air about him. He looked at the two Marshals, and gave them a very fake smile. "Good to see you Marshal Colt, Marshal Alice. I'm glad to see you had a successful mission. Why have you come to see me? Wait…" He suddenly leaned forward and looked directly at Alice, now seeing Snow's sleeping form in her paws. "What is…?" Colt stopped him before he could ask, knowing exactly what he was going to say. "No we don't know her species; we assumed she's some kind of vulpix. We found her during our capture of Clay Graveler. She has no memories, Buck says it's likely from head trauma and I'm inclined to agree with him. And we have no clue who her parents are, so we came here to find her a temporary guardian until they could be tracked down. Assuming they aren't dead that is." Alice glared at him for that last bit, while the Guildmaster snorted in annoyance at being interrupted. The Guildmaster gave the sleeping Snow a critical look, before saying, "Well that's perfect, because I think I found her perfect guardians. You two." They both blinked. "The way I see it, she's already used to you two along with your team, and considering the motherly way Alice is already holding her, I'd say she agrees with me subconsciously."
Before Colt could say anything Alice said, "But Guildmaster, surely there are better guardians than me. It would be better for her to have a complete couple, rather than just me." He glared at her before saying, "Weren't you listening? I said both of you, that means Mr. Colt is her other temporary guardian." He gave them a sly smile. Colt felt his face heat up with anger at what the Guildmaster was implying, and he could see Alice's do the same from embarrassment. The newspapers would have a field day. They always tried to imply that Alice and Colt were in a relationship, and once the Guildmaster doubtlessly leaked it to them, that would all but confirm it. The Guildmaster always tried to make their lives hell. Due to the fact that he and Colt always butted heads, and from the fact that colt ran an independent group, separate from the guild. It probably didn't help matters that Colt was also related to the royal family, so that meant he could have a little bit of leeway with how he treated the Guildmaster. In fairness to the Emboar, he was a superb bureaucrat and organizer. The problem was that he was extremely arrogant, and tried to be "hands on" whenever possible; typically with poor results. Accustomed to being obeyed, he scorned the Congress whenever he could, and would always act as if the royal family were a bunch of idiots and that he should be in charge. Colt hated him… so much.
"That means from now, until this vulpixs parents are found, you two are legally married and are her guardians. Congratulations I'll order a wedding cake." He said, now grinning. Colt growled lowly, he could feel the shadows and space near him bend, and shape. His illusion powers beginning to react to his emotions. "If you speak one word of this to anyone, Guildmaster," He growled, his gravelly voice now a full octave lower, "that will be, a grievous mistake… sir." He could see the Guildmasters smile had dropped, and he was leaning away from Colt now. However arrogant he may have been, the Guildmaster knew Colt was stronger than him; and he also knew that Colts connections in the Royal family would grant him leeway against him. He put on his fake smile and said, "This will not leak Colt, You have my word." Colt growled again, before saying, "It better not Guildmaster. Good day to you." He then turned on his heel, and left; Alice tailing him closely behind. The day was still young, and it had already gone to shit.
A/N: These first chapters are about world building, and introducing our two main characters; Snow and Colt. This story took a lot of influences from the two Sicario Movies, and Far Cry 5. With a little bit of Clint Eastwood westerns thrown in for good measure. For those wondering, yes… the story does take place mostly on the east coast; specifically… on the Charles-St. Mary's-Calvert Peninsula. At least for the first season, anything more would be getting into spoilers. One thing I notice on most fan-fics, of any kind, is that most don't lead to anywhere; they just… cover the life of a character. Mine actually has a story arc planned. Think Tom Clancy's books as a TV show in terms of storytelling; each book being its own season, at least… that's what I'm going for. Hope it's good, see ya when I see ya, until next time.