Ok, so I have some pretty big plans for this chapter. Expect some new characters in this second part. I'm planning for this to be a three part arc, and the third part being a huge turning point in the story, though not noticeable until the chapter after that. Anyway, here is a quick recap: Draco, Razor, Ace, and Blade assign themselves a new mission under order of Talons. The mission involves escorting a family of Nidoran to the desert to be safe from the oppression in Chari-Chari. Without further ado, here is my next chapter!

Spear Forest- Outskirts

"I'm hungry!" A plump, red colored Nidoran moaned as he trudged along his companions, three other Nidoran in varying colors and the mother, a light blue, small horned Nidorina. Draco groaned as the young Nidoran began babbling randomly. Though Draco was normally fond of kids, these four Nidoran just gave him a headache.

The group had been traveling for at least a day now, and the progress was not at all satisfactory. They had to stop extra early so the children could rest, meaning around dinner time, and after that, they called it a day. Talons, Draco could tell, was getting very stressed. Though he could not be sure, he was pretty certain that the Noctowl was torn between helping Draco and his friends, or leading the military forces of his nation.

It was midmorning now, and the sun shone brightly over them as they traversed the harsh terrain of Chari-Chari, the result of many years of volcanic eruptions. Talons had explained to the group that the land was riddled with many active volcanoes, and they would have to stick close to them so they could evade Shrouded Soldier attack. With the Nidoran children, attracting attention would not be hard. So they needed every edge on their side.

So far, as Blade had made clear, they had not passed any villages. Talons had stated that the villages were few and far between in the volcanic wasteland, making it easy for Shrouded Soldiers to slip in, unnoticed and take the village quietly. However, they had come across the ruins of one village, signaling that Shrouded Soldiers were in the vicinity. Though this had put Draco, Razor, Blade, and Ace on their toes, it seemingly did nothing to help with silencing the Nidoran.

"Now, Now, dears, we'll be stopping for lunch soon." The Nidorina whispered in contrary to the loud and boisterous voices of her children.

"But I'm hungry now!" The Nidoran whined, and the whine echoed throughout the plain. Draco and the others cringed, thinking that Shrouded Soldiers would find them any moment.

"Nido, you need to be quieter. We don't want the bad Pokemon to find us." Nidorina pleaded. The Nidoran children grew quieter, but still too loud for the rest of the group's case.

Blade walked up to Draco and said, "What do you think? Only a matter of time before Shrouded Soldiers finds us?"

"Hopefully not, I'm not in any hurry to face them again." Draco replied.

Ace glided gently next to them. "I don't know about you two, but this heat is really getting to me. Where are those caves Draco and I used to live in?" The bird Pokemon asked.

"They must be further back then I remember." Draco said in return.

Razor, still half asleep, trudged lazily behind them. He had volunteered as 'rear guard', only so he could slack off and not have to walk as fast. But being behind the Nidoran children, Razor almost wanted to go back up front with the others. When the Nidoran got quieter, he began to hear something, a noise that he only seemed to notice. Sort of like chanting or marching. But it didn't sound like any marching drill in Scythe Plains. He had heard this noise before, long ago, but he just couldn't place his mind on it.

"Hey guys, do you hear that?" Razor spoke groggily like he had just woken up. Talons, Draco, Blade, and Ace all turned toward Razor.

"Do we hear what?" Draco asked, clearly confused. Talons flew closer to Razor, trying to pinpoint the sound.

"It's marching, Shrouded Soldier marching." Talons gasped. He turned to the now stopped group. "I need to check this out. They are heading to the last free stronghold in Chari-Chari. I can hear it. And now, I can see it." He was right, off in the distance, they could now see a file of Shrouded Soldiers, Blastoise, Bisharp, and Rhydon all marching in their ranks, clad in red and black armor.

"What should we do?" Blade spoke, breaking the silence.

Talons sighed. "I was afraid it would have to come to this. Your four… and the clients… have to push on ahead."

"What?" Razor questioned, not comfortable with the notion of being left in a land crawling with Shrouded Soldiers.

"With all due respect, Uncle, we won't be able to make it on our own with all these soldiers out here!" Draco explained.

"You don't understand Draco; the remainders of people in Chari-Chari who are not oppressed by Darkrai are in that stronghold. Word needs to get out to Scythe Plains of what is going on. I have to help as much as I can by helping to defend the stronghold. I need to do this for the welfare of Chari-Chari and the world. I'm going, and there is nothing you can do to stop me." With that, Talons began to fly away. "I will meet with you at the Spear Forests north gate after you finish your mission." And then he was gone.

Blade was the one to break the silence once again. "Did he just leave us?" He asked.

"Apparently he did." Ace replied.

"So… what do we do now?" Razor inquired.

Draco spoke firmly, taking control. "We finish the mission."

"What?" Razor said in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, we've gotten this far, and if you want to go home, you can just ask the nice Shrouded Soldier crossing guards to make a path through the battlefield back to Spear Forest." Draco smiled, continuing to walk ahead.

"What happened to you back there?" Ace flew up beside Draco later in the day. Blade and Razor hung back with the Nidoran and Nidorina, both the Treecko and Piplup not making eye contact with each other. The group had been marching for hours since Talons had left them, the sun now much higher above their heads.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, confused.

"When you took charge like that. In Spear Forest, you did the same thing. But normally, you are so shy and modest. What's been up with you?" Ace explained.

The Charmander sighed. "It's just… ever since my father died… I've been trying my hardest to become a good leader like him. I want to fulfill his legacy."

"You're not the only one." Ace smiled. "All of us have been trying our hardest, even Razor! But we have such big shoes to fill. I'm afraid we will never be as great as them."

Draco simply nodded, and then took a look at the sun. It was very close to setting, right above the volcanoes that dominated the horizon. He turned to the rest of the group behind them. "It's getting late, and the children are tired. We should stop for dinner."

That set off the Nidoran children. They began to whine about how bad the dinner was the night before. Draco sighed, infuriated with the children's complaints. The rest of the group, equally aggravated, began to set up camp, while Draco took food out from their food bag. One of the Nidoran loped up to Draco.

"Don't tell me we have to just eat Oran berries again! I want poffin!" The Nidoran complained.

"Yes." Draco seethed. "We are having Oran berries again."

It was about midnight when Draco heard it. It was a small, faraway sound. It was a noise that could be dismissed as a simple trick of the mind. But this was no trick. It was real. And Draco had to find out what it was. Crawling out from underneath his blanket, he slowly crept past the sleeping Nidoran and of course, Blade, Razor, and Ace. He grabbed a torch from his bag and lit it with a small, lukewarm ember. Now equipped, the Charmander tip-toed away from the camp.

As he made distance away from the camp, the noise became louder. It was a soft, yet loud, grunt that seemed to echo across the scorched plains. Even more intent on finding its source, Draco began to move faster. As he moved further, he could see the dim outline of a figure in the distance. It was a large, threatening looking creature, with two pairs of legs and a large lump protruding from its back.

Shrouded Soldier? Draco thought, preparing for an attack. Indeed, the Pokemon began lumbering toward him, getting closer by the minute. In the light of the torch, he could see it more clearly now. After about five minutes, the Pokemon entered the torch light. Before Draco even began to analyze it anymore, he began channeling his hidden power through his veins, and projecting a green sphere of energy between his fingertips.

Satisfied with the charge, he released the energy, striking the Pokemon dead on. To his surprise, the Pokemon yelped and stopped charging.

"Hey, whoa, is that how you greet your uncle? And one that's blind in the first place? What is that old coot Talons teaching you anyway?" The Pokemon, now visible as an orange, camel like creature with two volcano like protrusions on his back.

"Uncle… are you…" Draco stammered. The Pokemon laughed.

"Why of course, why don't you give your uncle Camerupt a big hug?" The camel Pokemon smiled as Draco embraced him warmly.

"It's so great to see you! Dad said he hadn't heard from you since we left Chari-Chari! What have you been doing, where Lulu? How have you been?" Draco bombarded the ancient Camerupt with questions.

"Settle down, one at a time! As for Lulu, why don't you come and see yourself?" Camerupt beamed.

"Oh, well… about that… I have friends back there, and…" Draco was cut off by the old camel Pokemon.

"Don't worry, we won't be long! We will be back before daybreak." Camerupt smiled, turning away.

Draco hurried quickly after him. He was so intent on following Camerupt; he did not notice the two Pokemon skulking among the rocks above the camp. If he had simply glanced to the right, he would avoid a catastrophe that would save him and his friends. But his gave never broke away from Camerupt. And Mightyena and Magmar's plan began to unfold.

I can't believe I left you guys without a chapter since July! I'm really sorry for the delay; I've just been really busy. This is probably my last update before school starts again, so I hope you hang on until the next chapter. After the Alone saga ends, the story is going to split. Due to the difficulty of writing about four different main charecters at the same time and promoting their own personal growth, I've decided to narrow it down a little bit.

But never fear, as before I decide which charecters to drop from the main cast, I will do four special episodes, each pertaining to a different member of the group: Razor, Blade, Ace, and Talons. Please review the story and also, while doing so, I'm open to suggestions about which character should go on hiatus (Don't worry, none of them will be killed off.)

As for me posting more chapters, I'm definitely going to finish this series. There is no doubt about it. Once this story is wrapped up, which I'm hoping for it to be done by next summer or earlier, I will begin the next in this planned trilogy: Overrun. This story will take place directly after the events of this story. Then finally, I will redo my sequel to the original series, A Shadow Looms. I don't really have any plans after that, but I can assure you I will probably do some sort of continuation. Thank you all for your support!