At over 4,500 words, this is the longest chapter yet of Poke Wars, Episode I. It's also my favorite one thus far, because I enjoyed writing...well, you'll see what I enjoyed.

In other news, tomorrow is my brother's 20th birthday, and today was Marathon Monday. The weather sucked - I can't imagine running a marathon in this weather. Granted, I can't imagine running a marathon PERIOD - I can only do 5Ks at most.

Anyways, enjoy this chapter. And, if you want, check out my Discord server. The code to get in is in my profile.


Welcome to your life. There's no turning back.

Those words were quite chilling to Lance, in spite of the heat that he was already feeling on his fur. They were yet another reminder to the Lucario boy that he had made his bed, and now he would be made to lie in it.

After the door had been opened, the recruits all filed out in alphabetical order by last name. Lance didn't pay attention to most of them, except that he did learn that Claire's last name was Morrisey, and Brad's last name was Winters. As a result, he left the plane after Claire, but well before Brad.

As soon as it was his turn, he was struck by just how humid and muggy it was. Even though he wasn't looking at it, he could tell that the sun was extremely strong here, just by looking at the pavement and feeling it on his fur.

And then he looked up, and saw exactly what the landscape looked like.

The Oldale Airport was a small one, as far as airports went. There was only one terminal, with twelve gates. The hovercraft had landed on the ground, far away from the gates, so they were walking straight out onto the tarmac.

The humidity was so great that Lance was almost immediately soaked in sweat. Sinnoh did sometimes have a wet climate, but it wasn't nearly as wet as this. And to think that it was only something like 89% humidity...he didn't want to be here when the humidity was even higher.

Unfortunately, he'd have to be.

This is going to suck, he thought.

He supposed that the scenery was pretty enough. A sparse jungle surrounded the airfield, which gave way to an area of far denser greenery. He supposed it was pretty enough; he just wished he was here under better circumstances.

He met up with Claire Morrisey almost immediately. "Oldale's nice, isn't it?" the Zoroark asked him.

"How should I know?" Lance replied. "It's not as though I've ever been here before; I only just got here".

"Well", she said, "it's really quite pleasant if you're in the city. The air conditioning is very effective, and, what is more, we weren't far from the canopy tours from there".

"You stayed in Oldale Town?"

"Yeah, I did" Claire replied. "And we had a really good time; if we were here under better circumstances, I'd take you ziplining as well".

She's trying to flirt with me, isn't she? Fuck that.

No, she's totally your type. Flirt back!

That'll distract you from training. Don't get ahead of yourself, Lance!

Just as before, the two personalities inside Lance's head were at it again, clashing with each other. Lance wished that he could have quieted them down, but that just wasn't going to happen, evidently. They'd plagued him the entire time he was awake on that flight, constantly telling him what he should or should not say to Claire.

Both of you, shut up! Don't distract me from anything! Lance screamed internally at them.

Both voices quieted down, but Lance knew that they'd come back eventually. They always did.

"They have harnesses that fit Zoroarks there?" Lance asked.

"Well, yeah" Claire replied. "They have harnesses that fit pretty much any species of Pokemon. I'm sure that you'd be able to do it as a Lucario".

Lance was pretty sure that, once he learned Extreme Speed, he'd be able to replicate the feeling of flying pretty accurately, but he decided that he wasn't going to mention that. He wanted to enjoy this talk with Claire.

At the same time, he got the sense that there was something the Zoroark was omitting as she spoke. Lance didn't have any idea what this could be, but he was determined to find out.

There were still so many questions in his mind. How had he turned into a Lucario? Did the Skylock Empire have anything to do with it?

Ultimately, Lance knew that he couldn't worry about that too much. He couldn't afford to, not when he was going to be seeing combat pretty soon.

Once everyone had gotten off the plane, a Jeep drove up on the tarmac. Once it parked in front of the line of thirty-six recruits, a tall man with gray hair stepped out.

"Welcome to Hoenn, new recruits" he said, taking a look around himself. The main looked to be fairly old, perhaps in his early sixties, but he looked very strong as well. Lance wasn't sure that he'd be able to take him in a fight. Thankfully, he didn't think he'd need to.

"You might be asking who I am. Well, the answer to that question is quite easy. I'm Commander Griffin, and I'm the head of this regiment that you are all joining".

Commander Griffin nodded at the sight of the recruits. "All of you have already been very brave, opting to leave the safety of your homes for the Hoenn Army. Let me tell you that this is not an easy life; it will take everything you have to be as courageous as possible. But let me tell you, this is also going to be a highly rewarding life for all of you".

How so?, Lance wondered. He liked to think that he was doing this, not for the rewarding aspect of it, but for the fact that he'd be helping others. Wasn't that going to be its own reward?

"For one", the commander said, "you'll get to know that you are doing something to help beat back the Skylock Empire. Any day now, they may invade the mainland of Hoenn, in which case there is little that could be done to beat them back. For this reason, it is important to stop them before they can take over".

Lance gulped. He didn't like the sound of what the older man was saying, but he knew it was correct. Stopping the invasion before it could happen was going to be absolutely critical.

"Let's get into the vans" Commander Griffin said. "Twelve to a van, all of you will be driven to the headquarters. The windows are blacked out so that you cannot see where you will be going".

"Why won't we be able to do that?" Brad asked. "See where we're going, I mean?"

"Because they blacked out the windows" Claire replied. "Didn't you hear what he just said?"

"What I mean is", the Blaziken said, "why are they blacking out the windows? What's the point of it?"

Commander Griffin appeared to have overheard their conversation. "If you are captured by the enemy, they will no doubt attempt to torture our location out of you. If you don't know the way, they can't get the answer, no matter how hard they try. That is the purpose of the blacked-out windows".

"I see" Brad replied.

"All of you, into the vans! Our goal is to get to the base as quickly as we can, and then we'll do all your medical checks and vaccinations, and all that jazz. You got that?"

All of the recruits nodded. They then followed Commander Griffin towards the vans, which looked very small for twelve people to fit in. There was little doubt in Lance's mind that it would not be a comfortable ride to the base, which was why he sincerely hoped it would be a short one. He didn't like being carsick.

Lance, Claire, and Brad were all directed to the nearest van, which had the letter C on the side. "This is just van C" the commander said unnecessarily. "We're all going to go in a line anyway, so it's kind of redundant, but that's just the way it is".

Lance saw no reason to question it as he climbed into the back. The back door of the van was what was open, and, much like the hovercraft had been, all the windows, as well as the glass pane on the door (which meant basically everything one could have seen out of), were blacked out. He remembered that this was so that the location of headquarters couldn't be tortured out of them.

I suppose that's a good idea, he thought. I just hope that they thought it through before they built their HQ, because I want to feel like I am safe when we are there.

Almost immediately, Lance laughed internally.

He wanted to feel like he was safe when he was there. That was what he had just admitted to himself.

However, he'd signed up to be in the military. There would be no such thing as safe now, and he knew it. He was a fool if he even entertained the thought of safety.

As soon as twelve of the 36 recruits were all in the back of the van, Lance felt a lurch, and then the thing started driving towards what he assumed was the army base.

The ride was extremely bumpy, as though the road were the surface of the moon. Since there were no seatbelts in the back of the van, Lance felt himself bounce upwards on one occasion before landing painfully on his tail. This had earned him a sneer from a Machamp on the other side of the van.

Lance's eyes watered as he straightened himself out. He was really hoping that this would end soon; he didn't particularly like the back of this van. Every minute felt like five.

After what was probably about an hour, but felt like several hours to Lance, the van finally stopped, and Lance was able to get out of his sitting position at last. He realized just how exhausted travelling had made him; his entire body ached now, but he knew that there was still quite a bit of the journey left to make before he could finally lie down on something approximating a bed.

At least, he sincerely hoped that it would be something resembling a bed. We're talking the military here, so it was far from guaranteed that the accommodations would be anything comfortable.

"We're here" the driver of the van said.

A button must have been pressed somewhere, because the back door of the van opened, and the recruits piled out. As soon as Lance was outside of the van, he saw where they were now.

The sparse greenery surrounding the airport had been replaced with far denser foliage. Even though it was well after six in the evening by now, it was still very hot outside.

"All right" Commander Griffin said. "All of you will be given medical checks to ensure that you are fit to serve. Once that is done, you may proceed to dinner".

Dinner, Lance thought. His stomach was growling, and he realized that he hadn't had anything to eat since being at Staryubucks with Claire. It really sucked that they hadn't offered anything on the hovercraft, but he supposed that it wasn't the end of the world.

"What happens if we're not fit to serve?" Lance asked Brad. The Blaziken shrugged.

"I'm assuming that they whip you into shape so that you can serve" the Blaziken replied. "There's no going back on the commitment; once you sign that paper, you're theirs".

Great, Lance thought. I can't fake a communicable disease to get out of this. Signing that paper was a big commitment.

"Everyone, follow me" Commander Griffin told them. "We're going to be going on a trek through the jungle".

"How long?" one recruit whined. Lance knew that this boy wasn't fit to serve, not at all, if he thought that way.

"We're not telling!" the commander shouted.

The Lucario boy (Lance) didn't know what to think about that. He wasn't in the mood to hike for hours to the headquarters, but, at the same time, he knew what he'd gotten himself into. Could the same be said of the recruit who had, not fifteen seconds ago, whined about the distance?

In a single-file line, the recruits followed the commander onto a trail that led through the jungle. They had started in a clearing, from which some of the late afternoon sky could be seen. After that, however, the canopy became so thick that very little light penetrated it.

The lack of light didn't make the humidity any better. Lance was glad he wasn't wearing any clothes; otherwise, it would have been completely transparent just how much he was sweating. That would have been rather embarrassing for all the other recruits to find out.

Along the way, Lance saw a great many mosquitoes. Normally, the insects were barely visible to the naked eye, but normally Lance wasn't a Lucario. It wasn't as though he exactly had normal vision right about now.

Occasionally, he did have to swat them away. Okay, it wasn't occasionally, it was more like often.

Because there were tons of them.

Since evening was approaching, the bugs were coming out in full force, not something that any of them liked. He tried not to think about how itchy he'd feel later from all of the bites that he was no doubt getting.

Eventually, they reached a large dirt hole. Looking down into the hole, it was plain to see that a tunnel led underground at a fairly shallow angle.

"This is the entrance to headquarters" Commander Griffin said. "This is not the only way in or out of the Complex, but it's the most efficient one; the others lead into a maze of tunnels".

"And this one is direct?" a recruit asked. Lance saw that it was a Zoroark this time, but not Claire; this one was male.

"Yeah, it's a direct route into the Complex; that's what we call our headquarters. The accommodations aren't that bad, honestly; you'll like them, I should think".

Commander Griffin led them into the hole and down the tunnel. The walls underwent quite the transformation as they walked past them.

At first, they were made out of the same dark brown dirt that the rest of the jungle's floor had been made of. As they descended further and further downward, the walls and floor changed from being made out of dirt to being made of what appeared to be concrete.

They were led down what must have been close to half a mile of tunnel. Lance hated the stale air down here, and it made the walk more tiring than it already was. All he wanted at this point was a decent meal and a decent bed to sleep in. Was that going to be too much to ask?

Finally, they reached the end of the hallway. "Okay" Commander Griffin said. "To the left are the places where we get the health checks done. If you have a communicable disease, you will be sent to the hospital wing in order to recover before beginning training. You got that?"

After everyone nodded and signalled that they did get it, Lance got into the line for the medical checks first. He just wanted to get this over with.

First, he met with a Nurse Joy with a blood pressure cuff. "I'm assuming that you're going to take my blood pressure" he said.

"Yes, that is correct" the Nurse Joy replied. "We're also going to check your height, weight, vision, and hearing, as well as give you any vaccinations that you'll need while you are in Hoenn that you have not already received. We need to make sure that you are fit for duty".

Lance didn't see how vaccination would help once he was actually in Hoenn. However, he supposed that it was better late than never.

After the Lucario boy's blood pressure was checked, he went to the next curtained area, where a woman checked his height and weight.

"You're quite a burly fellow, aren't you?" the woman said.

"Yeah. What are the numbers?" he asked in response.

"You are six feet, two and a half inches tall and weigh a hundred and eighty-six pounds" she replied. "That's within the acceptable range for body mass index. If you were too heavy, you'd have to lose the weight before you could begin service".

Oof, Lance thought. He pitied those people who had come all the way down here expecting a chance to serve Sinnoh (or Kanto, Johto, or Hoenn, for that matter), only to find out that they weighed too much and therefore couldn't do it.

However, he didn't pity them too much. After all, he barely even felt sorry for himself, in spite of the fact that he did somewhat regret his decision to sign up. He knew that he was getting what was coming to him, and he could at least take some solace in that.

After vision and hearing tests (both of which he aced easily), he was taken to the last curtained area. A man in a white lab coat was looking at the medical records that he had been sent from Lance's primary care physician, checking to see which vaccinations the Lucario boy had and had not received prior to leaving for Hoenn.

"It says here that you're up to date on everything except meningitis type H" the whitecoat said. "That's the only one you'll have to receive today".

"Meningitis type H?" Lance asked. "Never heard of that".

"It's the kind you get in Hoenn" the doctor explained simply. "Because H is for Hoenn".

Ah. Makes sense, I guess.

The whitecoat asked Lance to put out his arm so that he could be given the shot, and that was exactly what happened. With no fuss at all, a small bandage was put over the injection site.

Lance stepped off the chair and then kept walking down the hallway. He wasn't afraid of needles at all, so he hadn't had any problems with the vaccine.

Let's see this place, he thought. He wanted to know if this looked like a place where he could indeed feel at home. After all, he'd just left his home to come here, so it really would have helped his morale if this was a nice place.

As soon as he reached the end of the hallway, he turned a corner to find a large room, with an arrow sign pointing towards it that said, "THE HUB".

The Hub was a large dining hall, with several pillars holding the place up. At all tables, recruits were eating dinner. It wasn't clear exactly what they were eating, but it didn't look very appetizing from this angle; some sort of soup, maybe?

It was not as though Lance had anything against soup; in fact, he loved it very much, particularly when he was sick. However, right now, he was craving something a little more substantial.

I want pizza, he thought. A pepperoni pizza with tons and tons of cheese. But I don't think they have that here. Which is a shame.

Lance found a spot where a full bowl of soup had been set down. The dining room, rather than appearing like it would be found in a military area, looked from the inside more like that at a fancy hotel. It reminded Lance of the time his family ate dinner at the Pastoria Country Club. That room had been quite fancy, and so was this one.

These accommodations aren't far off a five-star hotel, Lance thought to himself. I could feel at home here. I really could.

The soup appeared to contain some type of meatballs, with pasta. Unfortunately, it was a little cold; it had been sitting out for some time. At this point, however, Lance didn't care about something so trivial as that.

It's food, you dolt, he told himself. Eat it. Because you never know what breakfast's going to be.

Claire managed to find Lance again, and she sat down at the place next to him.

"Do you know where we'll be sleeping?" she asked the Lucario boy.

Lance shook his head. "I don't" he replied. "I guess we don't have too long to find out".

"A very good thing we don't have a ton of luggage" the Zoroark replied. "Otherwise, it would be quite annoying to lug it all in here, wouldn't it be?"

The Lucario nodded. "Yeah...I wouldn't want to do that".

As soon as they were done with their soup, Lance stepped up from his seat. He felt as though the other recruits were staring at him; not a pleasant feeling in the slightest.

Do they somehow know I'm Lance Grant?, he wondered. The boy who turned into a Lucario? If so, my goose is COOKED.

He knew that he wasn't likely to face any form of punishment for it - after all, it wasn't as though it was his fault he had turned into a Lucario. At the same time, however, it was very difficult to ignore the fact that he was a celebrity, and would no doubt be treated as such if anyone recognized him from the TV ads.

Let's just hope they don't, he thought.


He didn't know how long he'd been aimlessly wandering around the Hub until a military officer came by.

This one was a short, skinny human being. His nametag identified him as Officer Reed Gray. He didn't look particularly like a soldier, but looks could be deceiving, as Lance knew all too well.

"Can I help you?" Officer Gray asked him.

"Yeah" Lance said. "I'm looking for my barracks. I want to know where I'm sleeping tonight".

Officer Gray scrutinized the Lucario boy. "Are you Lance Grant?"

"Yes" Lance replied reluctantly and quietly. "That's me. The same guy who became famous for it and was shown on TV".

"I don't care. You're not famous here, kid. You're just Lance Grant".

I think I'm famous just by virtue of being Lance Grant, but okay, he thought. He supposed it didn't matter; in fact, he didn't want to attract too much attention here. He just wanted to be a normal recruit, at least for now.

"Okay. But where am I sleeping?"

Officer Gray pointed down the hallway. "Down the hall and to the left" he said. "You're in room 804. It's very hard to miss".

Lance nodded and made his way into the hall.

Even following the man's instructions, it was a little difficult to find the door. He probably passed it several times before he actually noticed it, which wasn't surprising, considering that the hallways all looked the same. So did the doors, minus the numbers.

This place looks just like a hotel, Lance realized. I hope the sleeping arrangements are just as nice as a hotel.

After what felt like an eternity, he found the room. And he was surprised by just how nice it looked.

The floor was made of a hard green rug, with some golden yellow stripes. There were two cots, much like rollaway beds that some hotels offered to those staying there.

Sitting on one of the cots was another Lucario. This one was reading through a book, the title of which Lance didn't bother reading.

"Hello" Lance said.

The other Lucario didn't even look up from the book he'd been reading. He continued staring at the pages, as though expecting them to reveal a magic spell.

"I'm your new roommate" our hero said, trying to get the other Lucario's attention.

Nothing. The other Lucario was still completely engrossed in the text. It was then that Lance realized what he should do.

"I'm Lance Grant" he said. "The guy from Sinnoh who turned into a Lucario".

The other Lucario dropped the book he'd been reading. "Really?"

Lance nodded. "One and the same".

"Thanks. My name's Troy" the other Lucario replied. "Nice to meet you".

After Lance nodded at Troy, he asked if they could head to bed. After all, it was getting quite late; Lance had spent more time in those hallways than he cared to admit.

"In a bit, okay?" Troy replied. "I'm still reading a bit of my book".

Lance sat on his bed until Troy said he was done with the chapter. The entire time, he was looking around the room, feeling very trapped indeed.

He'd thought that he'd feel relieved once he had arrived at his barracks. He'd thought that he'd be able to put all of the worry behind him and focus on being the best soldier-in-training he could be.

As it turned out, however, he felt more trapped than he ever had before in his life. Not only had he made the irreversible commitment to come down here to Hoenn, in essence trapping himself, he'd also gone deep underground here, and being underground made him feel trapped.

He couldn't help but wonder if the entire place could come crashing in on them. It might have been a rather silly worry - no doubt the place was more structurally sound than it appeared to be - but Lance just couldn't shake it.

Shut up, mind, he told himself. Don't just worry about things you can't control.

The only problem was that, in a way, worrying was what Lance did best. He wasn't proud of it. He often denied it, saying that he was a realist rather than a pessimist. But the truth was, he was a pessimist.

As soon as Troy turned out the lights, Lance laid back in bed and tried to get some sleep. It took a while, but he eventually sank into a nightmare.


Thanks for reading this chapter! Like I said, longest one yet. I also hope you'll review and tell me what you thought of it, as that is the most reliable way for me to find out your opinions on what I have written.

Until next time, this has been SnowLucario.