Author's Notes

Hello everybody! I hope that you are enjoying the story so far. I have one thing to say before you begin reading. For the sake of understanding what it's like to be under fire in a combat situation, I have begun to play airsoft and I am also considering joining the National Guard for training and to better understand the military. Additionally, if you have any questions, it doesn't matter if it has to do with the story or me, feel free to PM me.

Wow, instead of uploading this chapter, I uploaded chapter two! Thanks Xicharu for the help


Chapter 3: The Blood War Begins

Ice. That was a name that fits me well. The hours after our visit to Disk's residence had an atmosphere of guilt and sorrow. My teammates were guilty of the trauma that I had given the children. Everyone was guilty except me. I would've done the same thing again. He was scum that needed to be removed from the earth, or at least I told myself that to make me feel better. Those kids are going to grow up just like me. Their father is going to be just like me as well all because of my anger. I grew sick the more I thought about the way I had killed him. His brain was splattered on the headboard and on the kids sleeping next to him. Blood had splattered all over Ghost and I and I still had his blood all over me. When we came back Basilisk was there to greet and she was shocked when she heard that I had been the one who killed him. She was shocked even more by my appearance. She had said that the blood the blood that covered me made me look all the more terrifying. When we got back to our quarters, everyone dispersed into their rooms. It was 4:00 a.m. now and I was contemplating taking my own life. In my hand, I tightly held the handle of my knife. All the pain that I had to endure was worthless. I had thought that Ace was my gift from Arceus, but I was wrong. He was just another way to break me again and for what. This was the second time in my life that a god had abandoned me and I've had enough of it. Tears began to flow down my checks the more I thought about Arceus. I clenched my fists and looked up at the ceiling. "You said I was your only hope. I don't believe your bullshit anymore. You abandoned me just like he did and for what! Am I just a toy that can be broken and replaced? Why did you give hope and then just steal it away from me!" I said barely above a whisper.

"I have not abandoned you like your other god. I have just been busy," A white ball materialized right before my eyes. "Come, let us discuss this in a more private location." The ball, that I'm guessing is Arceus, floated into my chest causing me to blackout. When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in front of a long patch of land the was dotted with pillars and surrounded by nothing. At the end was the large bipedal creature I recognized as Arceus.

"Come to me, Guardian. It seems that you have lost your way." Arceus coaxed. The god's voice switched between feminine and masculine tones of voice. My amazement was largely overshadowed by the fury I felt.

"Lost my way! You fucking had my only friend killed!" I yelled across from the other side of the patch. Arceus wasn't fazed by my outburst. Instead, she/he looked down in what seemed like guilt

"I do not have any control over things I did not make. Many years ago when this world was young, I created pokemon and the landmasses they live on, but something was missing. They did not create civilizations like your kind, instead, they lived in isolation, almost never coming in contact with each other. Trying to get them to come together I created what you know as the legendary pokemon. I gave them unique abilities to try to unite them, but my efforts were in vain. Because they were so dispersed, the legendaries had trouble locating them. At the same time, your god was trying to find the perfect beings to rule over his world. After years of trial and error, he made your species. After many failed attempts at fitting your kind with his other creations, he realized he needed something else. We both found each other after we called out for help. I gave him the blueprints for my own creatures and he gave me humanity. I was a young fool at the time who didn't add their own touch to another's creation. When I placed your kind on my earth, I realized my mistake. I had no control over you. In the end, my plan worked, but some members of your species have angered me. I almost destroyed humanity, but one human changed my mind. Once again such a time when a hero is needed is coming up. You are the guardian of humanity and are the other thing that is stopping me from destroying your kind. I beg you to not go through with your plan. It would mean ruin for my world."

"How do I know you're not lying?" I asked. Arceus's eyes began to glow and I felt a sudden pain in my head. Images of exactly what he/she said flashed through my mind.

"Even I can not alter the memories of the earth." All my anger subsided. If he/she cared enough to stop me from ending my own life once again, then he/she must really care about me.

"Why me? I'm wasn't even born here. You're a god who reigns over vast lands full of millions of souls. One of them had to be better than me." Arceus looked me right in the eye and chuckled.

"I did search my own realm and found that no one fit what I was looking for. As a last resort, I turned to your god. He let me search his world and I found you. Deep down inside you have something the no one else had. Something that you must discover yourself." He/she responded.

Arceus chuckled about something again. "I can read your thoughts and you can stop saying he/she. I am what you view me. I am a mother to some and a father to others. The question is what do you view me as?" Without a doubt, I viewed Arceus as a mother. "Than you view me as a mother," She said, reading my mind again. "Now that I have discussed what I wished with you, you may now return back to Hyatia. Now that I will be watching your every move and good luck with your future endeavors."

I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, I was back in my quarters. I still had my knife clenched tightly in my hand. The thought of taking my own life and dooming millions of innocent souls made me feel guilty. It made me think about home again. I doomed lives by killing myself and I refuse to do it again. I threw my knife at the wall opposite of my bed. It hit the wall and fell to the floor with a clink. Satisfied and put my head down on my pillow and let sleep whisk me away.

I woke up to a knock on my quarter doors. "Ice, get up. You have an assignment." Basilisk shouted from the other side. With a groan, I got out of bed and shook off the last veils of sleep that still had a hold of me. I walked over to where I threw my knife, picked it up, and put it into my pocket. "Ice!" Basilisk shouted again.

"I'm coming!" I shouted in annoyance. She just wouldn't leave me alone. I opened the door and was greeted by the shocked face of Basilisk. She used a vine to point at my face and with an expression of horror, she said: "Your face! It's covered in blood!" Looks like I forgot to wipe Disk's blood off my face.

"It's Disk's blood," I replied simply. "Can I have something to wipe it off with?" Without a word, Basilisk went into her quarters and returned with a wet rag. With it, I wiped my face off. After I was down the rag was dyed red. I was surprised by the amount of blood I had on my face.

Regaining her composure Basilisk filled me in on my assignment. Due to my initiative during the assassination of Disk, I was assigned to be in charge of the infiltrators for an upcoming raid against a Red Dragon's Lair, which was the name for their underground locations.

"Look, I tried to get them to send someone else, but they wouldn't have it. Our leadership is very stubborn when it comes to these kind of decisions." She said trying to apologize. I wasn't having and went to find the other infiltrators.

After a long trek across the facility, I found the others. There were five in total and all of them were humans and looked very nervous. Some of them were shuddering as they thought about the upcoming mission. I wasn't though. I didn't feel a shred of fear. Instead, it was all anger.

After minutes of waiting, a male human climbed on top of a pair of boxes and cleared his throat. "As all of you may now, in five minutes, you are going to infiltrate a Red Dragon's Lair. You are responsible for setting things up for the main assault. You need to give us intel on the interior and sabotage things that could hamper the progress of the assault. You also have secondary objectives. If you can, free any innocent pokemon and people without raising suspicion. In order to get into the Lair, you must give a password, or pay, luckily, we have the password. The dragon will spread its wings." With that, we were on our way to the Lair. As we left we were given an earpiece to put on once we got outside and a wired microphone with the added bonus of a credit card. It didn't take long to reach the old and decrepit looking Lair. Standing in front of the entrance was a Red Dragons Guard. He was armed with a pistol and had a lot of mean looking scars. He grunted at us as we approached.

"We all have come the view and possible test some of the products you have here," I said, much to the surprise of my comrades. This wasn't the first time I got into a Lair.

"What's the password?" He grunted.

"The dragon will spread its wings." The grunt gave us a smile.

"Enjoy your time." With a nod, we walked into the Lair. It was in no way pretty. The walls had posters that advocated the Red Dragons and were cracked. The floor was covered with various substances that I do not want go into. The aroma the place had was disgusting. It was the smell of sex and blood with a mix of drugs all combined into one. It was not pleasant and somebody behind me gagged.

"Suck it up." One of my teammates snapped.

"I'm sorry, but this is the most unpleasant thing I've ever smelled." He whined. Deciding I should break up the banter, I turned around and caught there attention.

"We're here. Put your earpieces in and spread out. Find things that could help our assault. Your secondary objective still stands, do your best to free anybody who is imprisoned." I whispered. Everybody went their own way.

"Before you encounter anything that has to do with money, you have all been given credit cards wired to Disk's bank account. Use that and go crazy." Someone said over the earpiece. Well, now I know the earpiece works.

Going my own way, I passed by a group of people who were very drunk. "Did yyyou heeeeaarr what hhhapppenned to Faaaaaaang." One said. Her speech was horribly slurred and drawn out, but taking about Fang interested me.

"No, I didn't." Another said. He sounded semi-sober this time. The very drunk lady gave him a smile.

"Heeee waaaass killllled byyyy ttthhhee P-P-PLE. Toddaaaay Theeerre hhaaaavvviiing aa fffiiiggght ussing pppprisoners." She said. The other guy looked shocked. That was all I needed to hear. I walked out of earshot of anyone and reported my findings to the assault team CO. He congratulated me on my findings and relayed it to the rest of the team.

I continued on my way and found the entrance to the so-called marketplace. The marketplace was used to sell illegal wares and pokemon that have no use. I approached one of the vendors who was selling drugs and asked if he knew where the pokemon were being sold. He looked disappointed at first but pointed me in the direction of the pokemon. The pokemon vendor had recently gotten his own room due to being important to the Red Dragons. I entered the room and a short, balding man greeted me enthusiastically.

"Hello! Welcome to my shop. If you have any questions feel free to come and ask me." The vendor greeted. I ignored his greetings and looked at his selection. The pokemon were caged with just enough space to drink and eat. As I passed rows of full cages, I noticed something was missing. From the cages, I was getting seductive looks and ones of desperation, not the hard glare of the fighters.

"I have a question. Where are the fighters?" I asked.

The vendor clasped his hands together and said, "Ah, I sold to a man from another organization. He bought all the fighters I'm afraid." How the hell could one man buy all those pokemon?

"Who?"

"I couldn't tell, but I think he was part of a militaristic organization." Interesting.

I continued to look over the pokemon. Their prices ranged from a measly one hundred dollars to over ten thousand. I hope Disk has enough money for this, but I could always get rid of the problem. My eyes stopped on a cage holding a lone Zorua. It was quivering in fear and was pushed back as far as it could go in its cage. She had slate-gray fur that was dotted with red and black accents with the iconic red and gray tuft of hair on the top of her head. The most captivating part of her was her violet eyes. That was something that wasn't common with the Zorua species.

"You don't want that one. She's the weakest piece of garbage you'll ever meet. She's planned to be used as food for the champions down at the arena." I clenched my fists in anger.

"How much does she cost," I growled.

"Don't you dare take the tone with me. With a snap of my fingers, I'll have your entire family enslaved." He snapped back. I smiled and turned to face him.

I laughed which only served to make him angrier. "Do you think I'm afraid of a vendor who's working with the Red Dragons only because they lost their main source of income." I wheezed, making the vendor fume.

"I GAVE YOU FARE WARNING, BUT YOU INSIST ON DOING IT YOUR WAY!" He roared. Ignoring the fact that the other vendors probably heard that, I got into a defensive stance. I easily sidestepped him causing him to fly into a cage. He shouted in pain and fell backward. I walked over to him and stomped on his face knocking him out.

I smirked, "That was easy," I turned my attention back towards the pokemon who were watching in shock. "Right, to find the keys to let them out." For the next minute, I combed the room looking for the key, only to be told by a very timid Charmander that it was on the vendor's body. I picked up the keys and got straight to work on unlocking the cages. I guess I started on the side that was trained for sex because everytime I freed one, they offered to give me a "reward". I had to threaten a Gardevoir because she overstepped her boundaries. Then I moved on to the reject side. It was sickening to see these pokemon called rejects simply because they couldn't or refused to do what their trainers wanted. These abandoned pokemon were much better at showing their thanks. Instead of offering to have sex they showed gratitude. I reached the Zorua, who seemed to have calmed. I unlocked her cage and she hopped out.

"Thanks, human." She said. I looked at her in surprise. I expected her to be way more scared and nervous when dealing with me.

"You're welcome, and the name's Ice." She smirked.

"Using code names are we? Let me guess... you're from the PLE." Damn. She's pretty good.

"Bingo." I laughed. For the first time since Ace's death, I laughed.

"Well, since I know that the PLE is trying to destroy the Red Dragons, I want to help." My laughter immediately ceased.

"Why?"

"Because they took my family and friends from me. I want to return the favor." She growled. My face fell into a frown. Standing before me, was a person who had been through the same pain as me.

"I understand how you feel. They killed me, friend." I said, avoiding the details regarding Ace's demise.

She looked me dead in the eye and pleaded, "Then you now that I must be part of their end. Please" I agree with her, but what could she do right now besides get herself killed.

Putting my hand up to my earpiece, I called command. "This is Ice calling out to command. I have liberated a room full of pokemon and one is requesting that she join us."

"What species is she?" The commander asked.

"She's a Zorua" I heard chatter distant chatter coming from the other end.

"She's been cleared to join. Just be cautious now that you have a pokemon following you around."

I looked down at her and smiled. "You've been cleared to join," I thought for a moment. I'm sure she doesn't want to be called Zorua for the rest of her time with us, but what should her name be. Shadow, no, Mistic, no, Mystery, no, then I glanced down at her. Looking into her eyes I found her name. "Do you have a name?" I asked. She shook her head and I smiled in response. "Well, in that case, I have a name. How would you like to be called Violet."

"I would love to be called Violet." She smiled. For the first time in a while, I found myself growing happy again. Here I was thinking I'd never become friends with someone and yet Violet was doing just that.

"So, Violet, how did you hear of the PLE?" I asked.

"That vendor wouldn't shut his mouth. He constantly talked about how he was a firm supporter of the Red Dragons and how they would bring the end of the PLE. It was really annoying." She said. I laughed at the thought. He doesn't know about the rude awakening that the Red Dragons are about to get. "So, what is your plan for the other pokemon." She asked, pulling me from my thoughts. I looked at the crowd of pokemon that stood before me. They all looked at me anxiously awaiting my response. They could be helpful when dealing with opposition, but I can't leave them. The chances of someone stumbling upon them freed and the vendor unconscious could blow our cover.

"How many of you would like to help fight the Red Dragons," I asked. The majority of pokemon raised their hands, paws, and claws. "How many don't," A small percentage raised their hands, paws, and claws this time. "Alright, for those that want to fight, hold on a second." I put my finger back up to my ear and proceeded to contact the rest of the team. "Are you guys ready. I have a team full of very antsy pokemon who want to help us and I can't leave them."

"Yeah, I'm ready" One responded.

"As am I." Another said.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just paid their quarters a visit. They are in no way prepared for a raid." Another said.

"Ready." The last said.

"I'll contact command. Command, we're ready for the assault." I said.

"Alright, we're on our way. ETA three minutes." The commander responded. Shortly after the call, there was a rumble that came from the from deeper inside the Lair.

"Holy shit! What was that" Violet shouted. That was a quick three minutes. Alarms began to blare and the group of pokemon began looking at me uneasily.

The intercom squeaked to life, "WARNING, THERE ARE UNIDENTIFIED INVADERS WITHIN THE LAIR. ALL STAFF MEMBERS TO THEIR BATTLE STATIONS!" I don't think that's the PLE.


(Play "Wars" by Hurt)


Author's Notes.

So I've decided to add this author's notes because I want to talk to you readers about the chapter after you've read it. Also I imagine the song being play from the view of Arceus. With that out of the way, how did you like it. I've introduced the second protagonist and future lover of Nathan. I also want to say sorry if there was a quality drop at the end. My sister called thirty minutes before I finished the end and said that some asshole harassed her while she was riding her bike. Suffice to say, I was pissed. Also, I have a story regarding The Guardian. When I first planned out the story, Nathan was supposed to die when a disease killed him in a forest after the fire. The hospital part would've still happened, but instead of becoming homeless, he was sent to an orphanage where he spent the next year of his life. He was then adopted by one of the political candidates for the upcoming Hyatian presidential race. Nathan hated it there and within five months he ran away. Before he left he took a pokeball that his stepfather had from when he was a teenager. In the ball was Violet, who was originally going to be named Shadow. She got the name when she walked in the shadow of a tree and completely blended in. So that's how the beginning of the story was supposed to go.

In the next chapter, I plan on hinting at the main antagonist of the story, so stay tuned.