Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.

EDITED

Espeon and Sassy reached the entrance of the Free World Army's Headquarters panting and out of breath. The HQ was a large cave completely surrounded by trees and shrubbery on both sides and from up above. Outside the entrance was a Skamory named Ridged. He was the self-proclaimed and widely accepted guard of the HQ. He gave them a strange look. It wasn't often that he saw two eons in frenzy.

"Why did we have to get here really fast again?" asked Sassy.

"Hi, Ridged!" said Espeon quickly, ignoring Sassy, "Lugia wanted to see me?"

"Yes," said Ridged, then he turned to Sassy, "Who's she?"

"She's my friend," explained Espeon, "Can she come, too?"

"Sorry," said Ridged seriously, "But Lugia only told me to let you in. It's the rules. She stays out here."

"But…" stammered Espeon.

"It's okay, Espeon," interrupted Sassy, "I'll stay out here with the stiff bird; you can go in." Espeon looked at here reluctantly, but Sassy sat down on the spot in defiance. Then Espeon's look switched to one of gratitude, and she scampered inside the cave. Sassy turned to Ridged.

"So," she asked, "How's life been treating ya?" Ridged glanced at her, but then turned his gave ahead, scanning the area for enemies. Sassy sighed. Some people just didn't know how to carry a conversation.

Inside the headquarters, Espeon slowed down as she got deeper into the cave and the light began to dim. Just as the faint glow from the beginning of the cave was beginning to fade, she spotted a different source of brightness as she rounded a corner. To her surprise, the rocky walls melted away and were replaced by cold steel. She walked into a humungous room of silver metal. It reminded her of Snagem's extended hideout under the ground. She gazed in wonder at the bright artificial lights on the ceiling and then scanned the walls, eventually her eyes landed on a group in the center of the area. It was Lugia and other important pokemon. She spotted many legendaries, including Entei and Raiku, as well as an assortment of average pokemon that had worked their way up to the top. Espeon gulped. Even Lugia seemed dwarfed by this large space. She made her way over to them.

"Ah, Espeon," Lugia said in his deep, clear voice, looking up. Espeon felt a jolt run through her as every pokemon in the room turned to look at her.

"I was wondering where you were," Lugia continued, ignoring Espeon's petrified state. "First off, I would like you to know how sorry we are about being unable to locate your friends. I'm sure Suicune is doing all he can."

"Uh, yeah," Espeon said, snapping back to reality.

"Suicune, doing anything?" Espeon heard Entei scoff silently, "Yeah right." Raiku nudged him sharply, glaring at him for his rudeness.

"But I was hoping, in their absence, if you could help us with something," Lugia went on.

"Of course," nodded Espeon firmly.

"For a while now we've been debating something. The war, so to speak, has been… quiet. The humans haven't attacked us, and we haven't attacked them. A while ago, Entei, here," at this point he turned to the fire pokemon, "He suggested the we strike them before they catch us off guard. And Raiku," he then turned to Raiku, "is strictly against the idea. We took a vote, but it came out even." Espeon looked at the group and counted its members: Raiku, Entei, Lugia, Articuno, Moltres, and Zapdos she knew. They had come to meet her shortly after her arrival in Viridian. But there were a few other, non-legendaries: a Pigeot, a Primeape, a Pikachu, and an Arcanine. Ten members. Espeon tactically thought it was weird not to have an odd number. That way you couldn't have a tie.

"Well," Lugia began, as if reading her thoughts, "Normally we'd have eleven, but Suicune isn't here."

"Why are you guys worried about an attack?" asked Espeon.

"Exactly!" Raiku jumped up before Lugia could answer, "That's what I've been trying to tell him, but he won't listen to me! His logic is completely outrageous," clearly frustrated, she (Espeon had discovered that legendaries didn't have genders, but Raiku's voice was feminine) she sat back down, seething. Entei just rolled his eyes.

"The war's been quiet for much too long. If we don't fight now, then we won't get the element of surprise. My logic makes perfect sense!" Entei defended himself calmly, which seemed to upset Raiku even more. She yelled at him again, but Espeon wasn't listening because Lugia had leaned down and whispered into her ear:

"They're always like this. Their the loudest voices in the entire headquarters!" Espeon laughed.

"What was it that you wanted me to do?" she asked. Lugia grew serious.

"We were wondering if you could… tell us when the humans were planning on attacking," he said quickly. At first, Espeon didn't get it. How would she know…?

Oh. Right.

"You want me to see into the future?" she asked quietly. The idea was unsettling. She hadn't glimpsed past the present day since… well, since her old job with the humans. Lugia sat patiently awaiting her reply.

Well, Espeon thought, you already said yes.

"All right," she said. Lugia gave her a nod, and Espeon closed her eyes. She didn't really have to concentrate that hard; she had done this a million times before. Although all that bickering in the background was annoying… but as soon as the thought crossed her mind, the voices of Entei and Raiku faded away. Could it be? She opened one eye.

The room was empty. It looked just as it had before, but it was completely void of occupants, save for her. With one last look, she decided to check out what was going on outside. She walked towards the entrance.

Outside she noticed two things missing: one, Sassy was no longer there, and even more surprising, neither was Ridged. The sun was high in the sky and Ridged didn't go home until an hour after the night began. She squinted, looking into the trees, but no one was there. It was disturbingly quiet… Wait, what was that? Espeon pricked her large ears, picking up a snuffling noise coming from her right. She snuck over, circling around part of the rocky slope, and found herself facing the last pokemon she'd expected to see.

"Houndour?" she exclaimed in disbelief. Sure enough, the familiar dog pokemon was right outside the Free World Army HQ, his nose to the ground, sniffing for something…

And then there was a loud bang.