Dimensional Warriors Collide

Disclaimer: See Chapters One and Seven.

Chapter Ten: The Insurrectionists

If I was expecting some respite over what I had accomplished on Sytrus, I was wrong. Not long after the report was sent to Colonel Ackerson than a new mission popped up. I had barely gotten a good night's sleep when Captain Argoule knocked on my door, explaining the situation. This time, I was expected to go to a nearby colony and take down a rebel faction stationed there. Apparently Ackerson got wind that I had six friends with me, because the mission details that I may use the six accomplices that I have. Arceus-dammit all, that ass is really trying to kill me and my friends. By the time we reached the Thamus Eridanus system, I was combat-ready and my Pokemon had been briefed on the mission. Needless to say, they were greatly pissed at me – for not allowing them to help me in the Lone Wolf mission – and at Ackerson for not giving them a break.

"What do you mean, not giving you a break? You've been in your Pokeballs for the past two and a half days!" I said incredulously.

"…"

Anyways…we were headed to a planet – designated Requiem by the locals – to put down what the UNSC called the Insurrectionists. I was to infiltrate their base and take out whatever opposition I could find, and bring back any and all high-ranking officers if I could. This time I was to be inserted through Pelican instead of the more obvious HEV. Personally, it was a nice feeling to be dropped off by an aircraft, rather than a falling hunk of metal and ceramic, only to land on something that you're not supposed to. I had to explain that they all had to be returned to their Pokeballs during the day, but they could be out during the night, depending on the situation. I had to be discreet as well, so I put away everything that was too obvious into my backpack, and wore a black cloak to hide the fact that I had four holstered single-handed weapons on my person, as well as having two Covenant Energy Swords clipped onto magnetic bars on my forearms. I left my backpack on the Black Hole and only brought four of my remaining Nova grenades along with me. After all, I had to travel light if I was going to be running away from any potential ambushes. The only obvious thing I brought with me was the BRES, as I didn't want to be killed off immediately by a random firefight.

The earpiece that Captain Argoule gave to me buzzed with static. "Corporal, can you hear me?"

"Yes Captain. What is it?"

"New information on your mission. We got wind of a secret password that the Innies use to ID themselves to each other."

"What's the code?"

"To be honest, it's pretty random, even for the Insurrectionists."

"The code, Captain…"

"All right…the code is: Can I find a smart pineapple?"

"…What?"

"Can I find a smart pineapple? That's the damn code!"

"Ummm…okay…"

"I told you it was going to be random!"

"To be honest, I understand it completely."

A moment of silence filled the radio.

"Well…if you understand it that well, then what's the response to the code?"

"Easy. 3.14159, or Pi."

"Pi? Like the mathematical Pi?"

"Yep, that's the one."

"What in the hell…we need to send this to ONI after. You may have something there Corporal, and we really could use a break from trying desperately to crack the Innie codec."

More silence, punctuated by several arguing voices in the background.

"The guys here would like to know how the hell you managed to get Pi from 'Can I find a smart pineapple', Corporal."

"Tell them to count each letter in each word. Anyways, I gotta go, we're on final approach."

"Kick some ass Corporal, and make sure to bring back any higher-up's from the Innie faction. Argoule out."

"I'll try."

With that, the link terminated, and I put the earpiece away into a pocket in my cloak.

*Timeskip*

I had already booked a room in a hotel close to what was suspected as a minor Insurrectionist base. I have seen multiple people going to and from the building, and none of them looked friendly. It seems as though ONI got this one right. I'd have a closer look during the night when it was less obvious that I wanted to get in. in the meantime, I released my Pokemon and allowed them to stretch and move about. While most of them chatted about past happenings and the mission at hand, Gardevoir snuggled up close, completely content just to be near me.

'I've noticed a change in you,' she projected.

'Really?' I projected back.

'Yes. You've gained some telepathic abilities as well as a measure of precognition. It wouldn't be too far of to suggest that you could read some minds, but only if you concentrated enough.'

'I can understand the telepathic abilities considering that I'm communicating with you, but as for telling the future and reading minds? I can't really accept that.'

'I don't mean just with me. I've personally noticed that whenever we're around, you can understand us, even without your Poke-translators on your ears,' she said while stroking them. 'In any case, I've read your mind a little bit, and I noticed that you "felt" that someone was watching you during that Lone Wolf mission, and managed to dodge a sniper round a second just after you moved from your spot.'

Now that she mentioned that, I did manage to notice that cloaked Elite hiding behind my back while those two sniper rounds seemingly missed me when I moved.

'I see the understanding in your eyes. Trust me; your Psychic powers will only increase as time goes by.'

'Is this some sort of after-effect of…you know…our mating?'

'An unforeseen effect, but yes. These are some of the effects seen by the mating with our species with one another, but never with a human. Normally, a Gallade would get back some of his Psychic powers after mating with a Gardevoir, but these kinds of effects would not happen between two Gardevoir, as they are pure Psychic-types, instead of the Gallade's Psychic/Fighting matchup.'

I was still unsure of how or why I was getting Psychic powers, but I went with it. 'How can I increase the speed of gaining these powers?'

She blushed, and I sensed a slight hesitation, as well as…lust? Love? Apparently my Psychic powers were still too underdeveloped to completely understand emotions sent by other beings.

'Um, the only way to make your Psychic abilities appear faster…would be to…'

'Yes?'

'Completely mate with me.'

I was shocked. Completely mate with her? I thought I had already done that when we first coupled.

'The simple act of mating does not mean that you have completely mated with a being,' she explained. 'In the Pokemon world, the act of mating is complete when the two lovers accept each other for who they are, as well as opening their hearts to one another. For Psychic-types such as myself, when we completely mate, we gain the extrasensory development of completely reading each other's thoughts, conscious or unconscious, as well as perceiving everything around us with renewed sight, so to say.'

'But…how can we completely mate if a coupling between a human and a Pokemon hasn't been done before?'

'I never said it hasn't been done before. I'll try and lead you through it, when we get the chance, of course,' she said with another blush.

'I swear, you're so beautiful when you blush like that. The red brings out your eyes,' I projected with a smirk. She shoved me playfully, but I could tell she liked that by the way her blush deepened.

The next day, I had returned my Pokemon back into their respective devices, and left the hotel. I calmly walked over to the building ONI had mentioned, and the two guards levelled their rifles at me.

"Can I find a smart pineapple?" one asked.

"I'd happily bring you some pie, but unfortunately, I don't have a credit to my name," I replied.

The two guards looked shocked, and one of them went inside. A few minutes later – and some very tense moments – the guard came back, followed by a crisp-looking man.

"You seem to have figured out the answer quickly, and yet we've never seen you before. Are you UNSC?" he asked.

"No. As I've said to your guards, I don't have a credit to my name, and obviously that wouldn't be the case if I was part of the UNSC. In fact, I was wondering if I could join you in taking them down."

He smirked, the gestured for me to follow him. "Very well. I'd like to discuss this further inside. Please, follow me."

We went into the building and I followed the man along several hallways. After a few minutes, I was starting to wonder if all this was a trap when we reached a heavy metal door.

"Please, enter," he said, turning a handle. I heard several clicks, followed by a loud clunk as a final deadbolt unlocked, allowing the heavy door to swing inwards. Behind it, there was a highly decorated room, with several expensive furniture and a large TV set. I entered, only to have the heavy door quickly shut behind me. I tensed, and reached for my concealed TMP's when a voice spoke.

"Hello and welcome, friend. Sorry about the door, I've been meaning to have it replaced with something…more civilized."

I relaxed, and turned around to face a man standing at a bar, helping himself to a drink.

"Scotch?" he asked, holding up a bottle.

"No, thanks," I replied.

"Brandy? Wine? Gin?"

"I don't drink."

"Ah, too young for such bad habits. Smoke?" he asked, trying one last time to tempt me.

"Sorry, but I've inhaled enough second-hand to last me half a lifetime," I said. It was true. After two and a half years with my teammates in Sinnoh, I've learned to stay away when they pulled out their cigarettes or cigars. I've also learned not to enter a room for at least three hours after they inhaled their last drag.

The man laughed. "Well then, enough of the small talk. I understand that you want to join our ranks?"

"Yes, I do. As I've told several men beforehand -"

"- You don't have a credit to your name. Yes, yes. I understand. And yet you managed to figure out our code in no time flat. You must be excessively smart, and yet, the UNSC haven't drafted you into their ranks."

"Needless to say, I'm smart enough to run when the recruiter comes a-knocking," I replied.

The man laughed again, but then a serious look came upon his face. "Now don't lie to me, boy. I know Covenant energy outputs when I see it. Where's the tech? You certainly didn't grab it from a passing cruiser, or you wouldn't be here. Did you steal it from an UNSC armoury stash? Speak up, boy, or I'll have you killed right now." He said, withdrawing a small pistol.

I smiled. "Looks like you got me," I said, shrugging. I flicked a wrist, and a concealed Energy Sword fell into my right palm.

The man levelled his pistol at my head. "Now don't try anything funny now, or I'll blow your brains out onto the carpet."

"What, you think I'm skilled enough to bring a concealed weapon in this building without being detected?"

"No, I think you're skilled enough to bring more than that and not get called out on it," he replied.

"Well," I started, "You're right," I finished, quickly activating the Sword and dashing to where he stood, cleanly bisecting his small pistol, the barrel falling to the floor. I then brought the end of the blade close to the base of his neck. He started to sweat profusely.

"Now I have the upper hand," I whispered. "Are you ready to meet your maker?"

"Do you have any idea who I am? I'm General Hawke! You can't just kill me!"

"Exactly," I said. "Which is why I'm taking you in for interrogation by the UNSC."

"You said you weren't with the UNSC!" he croaked.

"And I'm not. But I do work for them. Now," I said, taking out a zip-tie, "you're coming with me whether you like it or not."

A couple of minutes later, he was tied up and we were moving along a hallway, moving towards the exit – or so I hoped. Along the way, we had met up with some security guards, but I had dispatched them easily enough with the rest of my concealed weapons. Just as I finally found the exit, a couple of shots rang out, hitting me in the back. Luckily, the rounds didn't penetrate my armour as I swivelled around, pulling out a Desert Eagle and killing the person stupid enough to challenge me. I put away the pistol, and herded the General outside. Unfortunately, there was a small force waiting outside, rifles raised.

The General laughed. "You see now? You were too arrogant to realize that I had many troops at my disposal. It would be wise for you to surrender and let me go before someone gets hurt."

My thumb edged closer to the BRES' activation button while my right hand moved to the Nova's. "I think your troops should be the ones to surrender, General," I replied, "or they might find themselves picking them up from the floor in little bits."

The General grew angry. "Fool! You are outnumbered!"

I hit him in the back of the head, silencing him. "And you are a fool for not realizing that I'm superior to each and every one of them," I said, quickly tossing a Nova into their midst. The grenade detonated, cutting a ten-foot diameter path through the troops. The rest of them took aim, but I activated the BRES, placing it in front of me and the General. The rounds bounced off, and I took a TMP out of its holster. Before I could fire, however, a shot rang out, and took out three troops.

Meanwhile…

I watched the scene unfold. A single person simply walked in after answering the guards' question, then after fifteen minutes, a small reaction force was positioned outside the main doors. In that time, I had managed to use the thermal scope on my rifle to have a look inside the building. I managed to catch a flare of light coming from what appeared to be the main office of the head officer of this Insurrectionist camp, General Hawke. Now, however, the main doors opened, and the person walked out behind the General. A small conversation ensued, suddenly disrupted by a large explosion, as an unfamiliar grenade went off in the middle of the troops, completely destroying a five-foot radius around the epicentre of the detonation. I saw a shield flare to life, and that was when I decided to take action. I fired once, taking down three of the rebels, and they all stopped, unsure of what to do. Instead of letting them regroup, I fired methodically, taking out as many soldiers as I could with one shot. Meanwhile, the person opened fire from behind his shield with a small sub-machine gun, cutting a small swath of destruction in its wake. The person reloaded, and replaced the SMG with a large-calibre pistol, firing seven times before reloading. When the last of the troops fell, I jumped down from my perch, and headed towards the person.

I had to get out of here. I had no idea who had hit those troops, but it didn't seem to me as though I was being targeted. As I moved up, holding my pistol behind the General's back, a green figure dashed up to me. It took me a second to realise it was another SPARTAN.

"Hello," I started, "I think we're on the same side, correct?"

"If you mean that I work for the UNSC, then yes." The voice was feminine, yet battle-hardened, with a touch of an icy-cold tone, as if she had just come out of a freezer.

"Obviously you're a SPARTAN. I've met up with one of you before."

The green figure seemed surprised, but I couldn't really tell. Those armour systems really block out any emotional features you would normally see on any other person.

"Before we continue this, I say we get out of here to the nearest extraction point."

"Agreed. What about our friend here?" I asked, nudging the General slightly with the barrel of the handgun.

She moved a gauntleted hand towards a small pocket, withdrawing a small syringe. She injected the General, and he fell limp. I wasn't ready for a sudden weight shift, and I staggered under his mass. She then lifted the General over one shoulder with ease.

"Problem solved. Let's go." With that, she started off. I followed close behind, keeping my hands on the handles of my TMP's.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Linda-058," she replied.

Continued in Chapter Eleven…

A/N: Ackerson's attempts to get rid of Scott and his Pokemon are getting his attention now. Although Scott will not confront Ackerson about this, what will he do to ensure the safety of his team? And will he decide to "completely" mate with Gardevoir to gain more of his budding Psychic powers?

- UBE Chief