The Forever Trilogy: The Restored Files

~NEVERMORE~

Chapter 10: Lightning

TOPAZ

Tuesday, November 19th, 4998.

"Okay, so here's the plan," Chase said as we were crouched outside the nearest town's Government post, hidden from plain sight. "We're going to split up. Gold and Sapph—you'll go in from the west. Topaz and I will go in from the east. We'll meet at the chosen hovercraft, and when all is clear, break inside. The rest will be up with Topaz and Raiden. Understood?"

We all nodded.

"Good. Let's move out."

As we parted ways, I went on high alert, taking in our surroundings. This post was like a meager, rundown version of the one back in Twinleaf. The main building was at the center of the front, made of concrete, a dull dark gray shade. The walls were cracked and chipped in some places, the windows barred. It made me think of a prison.

To the west were old, retired gas chambers. It was a haunting sight. It was taught that during the early days of the Government, anyone who went against the new empire was murdered in those gas chambers. Since there was no need for them, they had long since been abandoned. Though the chambers had never been demolished... probably to remind people of what would happen if they went against the Government.

To the east were the barracks—where all the soldiers lived. The barracks consisted of long wooden buildings with three windows on the two longest sides and one each on the shortest. The wood was warped and deteriorated. The glass windows even looked a bit cracked at this distance. The unfortunate part of it was that soldiers were coming to and from that area.

"...So, Chase, how exactly are we gonna get through there?" I asked quietly.

"Give me a moment," he replied. "I'm thinking."

I gritted my teeth. Raiden was getting durantsy on my shoulder, his claws digging into my shoulder as usual. At least he was staying quiet. He knew better than to talk in a situation like this. Still, Chase's silence was beginning to make me anxious. The longer we took here, the more trouble both of our groups could get in.

And after realizing just how much my friends meant to me... Maybe that added to my motivation.

"Got it," Chase said. "Just follow me."

He didn't give me a chance to even ask what exactly we were doing. He just headed off, quietly making his way to the nearest barrack. I realized he was aiming to get to the side that was closest to the stone wall surrounding the whole compound, where nobody was walking. Within seconds, we had made it. I had to hold back a sigh of relief that could possibly blow our cover.

Reaching up to brush my sweaty bangs away from my eyes, I looked up at my best friend, silently asking him what next. He put a finger to his lips, and then slowly crept to the edge of the building. He peered ever so slightly around the side. Raiden's claws dug into my shoulder in anticipation.

But then Chase jerked back, pressing his back to the wooden wall. He seemed really pale, like he saw something that bothered him.

"What is it?" I hissed in a low voice.

He shook his head before mouthing, "Be quiet."

But that was when I heard the voices.

"Lady Ivory! Look what we've found!"

I heard loud footsteps and something being dragged along the ground. Whatever it was, they pushed it onto the ground. I hated not being able to see. Listening only told you so much.

"Oh, what a pleasant surprise," a girl drawled sarcastically. "Squad Leader Ross Faith. I'm surprised you survived that attack."

Dammit, I wanted so badly to see what was going on! It was a relief to know our squad leader was all right, but now he was in the hands of the enemy. This was bad. This was really fucking bad. What were we going to do?! I looked up at Chase, hoping he had some kind of plan. We couldn't just leave him here! But his face was just twisted in a grimace, like this whole situation pained him.

Shit. We were screwed.

"Lady Ivory, what should we do with him?"

"Well, I doubt he's alone. There are probably more survivors, lurking nearby to steal hovercraft so they can escape. The rebels are so predictable."

Wha... What?! They had us all figured out?! Shit, this was getting even worse! How the hell were we going to get out of this?

"Fuck that bitch," Raiden growled, his cheeks crackling with electricity. "Hate those cocky Government bastards! We'll show them! Right, Topaz?"

I took a moment to calm myself, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I couldn't lose my cool. That could get us all killed. I needed to be as calm and rational as possible. I could do this.

"...Right," I agreed, before returning my attention to Chase. "We can't just sit here and let them kill our squad leader, Chase."

"...I know," he sighed, staring down at the ground. "But... that girl... something about her... bothers me."

I didn't understand what he meant. "Well, of course—she works for the damned Government."

"That's not-"

"Yo, Ivory, you really need to be better at guarding your post!" someone very close by yelled, startling the both of us. But no one was in view. "Man, you rebels are really dumb. Haven't you heard of the invisibility cloak that Professor Murasaki just released to be used by the Government's army?"

I heard some rustling, and the next thing I knew, there was a girl standing right in front of us, removing some kind of cloak from covering her. Now that it was just hanging from around her shoulders, it just looked like a dark purple silk cloak.

She was a bit shorter than Chase, but that was pretty tall for a female. With her long, thick, curly bright violet hair, fair skin, and dark eyes, she looked like a goddess. It didn't help that she wore her hair in a way that made me think of one—up in a high ponytail, with perfect loose ringlets that cascaded down to her shoulders, complete with a tiara-like headband. She was wearing a lavender leather corset-like top, white skinny jeans, and purple wedges.

"Though, let's be honest," the girl said, aiming a gun at us. "Azo did a lot of the work. Ol' Professor Murasaki lost some of his... motivation."

"Who the hell are you?!" I demanded without thinking.

She laughed, lowering the gun a little. "I guess I should tell you, since you obviously don't remember. I'm Mauve Murasaki. And yes, I'm related to your little friend Viola—albeit distantly."

...Wait, what? Was nothing going to fucking make any sense today?

"How do you know about Viola?" I demanded as Raiden tensed even more on my shoulder.

"Damn, somebody's feisty," she laughed. "Relax, sweetheart. The Government knows everything."

"Mauve! Will you stop yacking your jaw for one second?"

The other girl—the one they had been calling Ivory—finally came into view, coming to a stop right next to the building we had been hiding behind. And now that I could see her, I understood what about her bothered Chase.

She looked a hell of a lot like him. Though her hair was dark brown and wavy, only reaching down to her chin, she had the same shade of brown eyes as he did. She wasn't nearly as tall, but she was obviously younger than him—maybe by a couple of years. She was wearing a white turtleneck, black leggings, and boots of the same color. And boy, did she look pissed.

"Oh, please, Ivory," Mauve drawled, waving her off with the gun. "You're so uptight. You should be happy. Look who we've caught!"

She finally looked at us, and her eyes widened. "You're... You're supposed to be dead!"

...Yeah, nothing was going to make fucking sense today.

"...What are you talking about?" Chase asked, finally speaking up. "I... I don't know you."

"...So Flax was right... They don't remember..." She sighed. "I'm Ivory Kuro. Like Mauve, I work for the Government. I guess you could calls us admins or executives or whatever."

So they were pretty much Synis's cronies. But one thing wasn't making any damn sense...

"How the hell are we supposed to know assholes like you?" I demanded, feeling my temper raise even more.

"Topaz-" Chase began.

"Don't 'Topaz' me!" I snapped, my hands clenching into fists, and Raiden cried out in agreement. "This is fucking insane! Nothing is making sense today, Chase! I'm not gonna just stand here, wasting time talking to these psychos when we have friends who are waiting for us!"

"Yowch, I don't remember you being this sassy," Mauve laughed, unfazed. "That was more like your-"

But then Raiden let out an angry growl, and leaped off of my shoulder, his tail gleaming as he brandished Iron Tail, a move I had recently taught him via TM. But Mauve reacted, firing her gun. In that moment, I felt my heart freeze in fear that he had been shot. But the pikachu turned with wicked speed, repelling the bullet with his iron-coated tail. And then he landed right on Mauve's face.

"Take this, bitch!" he screeched. "Nobody talks shit to my trainer!"

I was so stunned by what he did, I almost didn't notice him leaping off, just avoiding being hit with her gun, or Chase grabbing my hand and pulling me with him as he made a break for it. I nearly tripped over my own feet in the process. We didn't get very far, though, due to the Government soldiers that had brought in our squad leader. But Chase was on a roll, and within seconds had released his serperior. Raiden leaped forward to join him.

I don't know what I expected, but it definitely wasn't Government soldiers sending out pokémon. If... you could even call them pokémon. They immediately reminded me of what we saw in Twinleaf Town. But the two facing us were mightyena—more like mightyena that looked like they were on steroids. They snarled ferociously, glaring at us with blood red eyes.

But this was no time to get scared. If we didn't win, we'd all die.

"Raiden, Electro Ball, now!" I ordered as Chase gave Viper his own command.

But as the pikachu lowered himself on all fours to let the electricity charge around his tail, one of the mightyena lunged forward without even an order. Raiden barely had time to leap into the air to avoid a vicious attack, before somersaulting and launching the sphere of voltage at the strange pokémon. But the attack barely seemed to do any damage as the mightyena lunged after Raiden, slashing at him with its razor sharp claws.

A series of curses came exploding out of Raiden's mouth as blood began to ooze out of the cuts on his back. He didn't even wait for me to give him an order. His cheeks crackled for a second and then he launched a Thunder Shock at the pokémon. And he didn't let up until the beast collapsed. But I didn't even get a moment to relax because I heard a pained cry come from Viper.

The other mightyena had sunk its fangs into the serperior's back, and was shaking its head violently, thrashing the poor pokémon about. Blood was flinging everywhere as Chase hastily reached for another poké ball from his belt.

"Raiden, do something!" I shouted.

"Gladly," he growled, his tail already becoming coated with steel.

And then all I could see was an orange blur as he bolted towards the two grappling pokémon. Raiden leaped up into the air, utilizing his momentum to somersault and then using Iron Tail to slice open the base of the mightyena's neck. Blood sprayed everywhere as the pokémon went limp, a chunk of flesh sent flying through the air. Raiden dropped down to the ground as Viper slithered away, freed from the mightyena's grip.

Chase barely had a chance to go to his pokémon's side when the soldiers pulled out their guns.

"Don't tell me you actually thought you could get away," Mauve drawled as an amused smirk formed on her lips. "Tsk tsk—I thought you were smarter than that."

"Why do you keep on acting like you know us?" Chase demanded, but he sounded guarded, which took the edge off his voice.

"Maybe because," Ivory replied coolly, "we do."

GOLDY

"Something's wrong. Chase and Topaz should have gotten here by now."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," I muttered.

Sapph glowered at me. "I'm really not in the mood for your Lieutenant Sarcasm shit today, Gold!"

"I'm never in the mood for your hateful attitude, Sapph, but hey, do you see me complaining? No."

"Don't get all bitchy with me," she retorted. "Arceus, you're such a whiny little-"

The sound of gunshots cut her off. We both froze.

For a moment, I couldn't breathe. My blood had run cold. Guns... They'd only be fired if intruders were discovered, right? That meant... Fuck fuck fuck—this so could not be happening! We had gotten so far, only for it to end like this?! Why... Why the fuck did the High Commander even have this stupid mission?! We were all... going to die...

"...It's fucking over," I groaned, slumping up against the side of the hovercraft we had chosen. "Guess none of us were strong enough to be in the damn Resistance."

"What the hell makes you say that?!" Sapph demanded, giving me an annoyed look. "So what there were gunshots? Y'really think it'd be that easy to take out Chase and Topaz?"

I ignored her. "This mission was doomed from the start. No wonder Am didn't come with us like he usually does."

"I thought that was because he's a soldier now."

"Nope. It all makes fucking sense now."

"Ugh!" Sapph jerked upright from where she had been leaning, putting her hands on her hips. "Just listen to yourself, Gold! I dunno why the hell you're so cynical all of a sudden, but get your fuckin' shit together. If Chase and Topaz are in trouble, we're the only ones who can help them. So instead of grovelin' and acceptin' that we're doomed, get off your ass so we can get movin'."

I just stared at her, shocked. But... she was right.

So much shit had happened today, but I couldn't give up. That's what the Government wanted, right? They wanted us to cave in and submit to them. But no—as long as there was a chance that my friends were still alive, and that we could get out of this, I had to keep fighting.

I couldn't disgrace my namesake either, right?

"...You're right. I'm... sorry." I pushed myself back up. "I just got... really overwhelmed, I guess."

"Yeah, I know," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "That Flax guy really got to you. But he's gone now, so let's go kick some major ass and save our friends."

I nodded, a faint smile tugging at my lips. Leave it to Sapph to cheer me up. We might not get along that well, but we were still partners. I knew I could rely on her.

"Hell yeah!" I crowed, feeling my spirit coming back. "Let's go!"

It took a lot of navigating, sneaking through the base, which made me worried that we might be too late to be of any help. But I had to have faith and believe in my friends. I wasn't going to give up on them again. This entire mission had planted doubt in my heart, but I couldn't allow it to spread.

"Dammit, where are they?" I muttered, peeking around a corner. "Do you think... they were taken into custody?"

I glanced behind me to see her scowl. "Ugh, I really don't wanna think about it... but maybe."

What were we going to do now?

"...We'll just have to break in," I muttered. "'Cause I sure as hell ain't gonna leave them behind."

Sapph didn't look too pleased about the prospect, but nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Let's get to it."

It actually didn't take us too long to find a way into the main building. It had been way too easy to break inside—to the point where I suspected this all could be part of an elaborate trap. But I could care less at this point. I wasn't about to leave anyone behind, much less the girl I had feelings for. I could not let the Government win this.

"Clear," I whispered after peering around the corner we were at.

We stepped out into the hallway, which was oddly vacant. So far, we had barely seen any soldiers. This was most definitely a trap, but there was nothing we could do about it. We just needed to do the rescue as quickly as possible—get in and out ASAP. Exploso and Tori, Sapph's combusken, went ahead of us, as they were the ones who would be doing the fighting if we bumped into the enemy. I hated putting them in the forefront of danger, but we had no other choice.

At least they could burn up bullets, if it came to that.

When we reached the end of the hall, we found a lone doorway. Something about this felt really wrong. But... I couldn't place it. Either way, we had to risk it. I looked over at Sapph. Though she seemed a bit uncertain, she nodded. I slowly reached for the door knob, only to have the door jerk open instead.

"Shit!" I blurted, nearly colliding with the person that came out.

Sapph and I both jerked back, but immediately stopped when we got a good look at the person. They... didn't look like a Government goon. Hell, it was a girl probably around our age. She was kinda short, with scruffy, spiky black hair that was pulled back in a ponytail, with bangs that were parted to the side with some slight spiking at the edges. Her eyes, though, were what bothered me the most. They were orange—the exact same shade as Topaz's. And those eyes widened, as if she was shocked to see us.

"Hey!" Sapph exclaimed aggressively, seeming to have regained her composure before me. "What's somebody our age doin' here? Who're you?"

The girl seemed... pained. "Just... call me Lightning. You're... trying to rescue your friends, right? I can help."

My eyes widened. "How do you know that?"

"You ask too many questions," she said, evading an answer. "Look, do you want to save your friends or not? You won't stand a chance against Ivory and Mauve."

"Who?" Sapph asked incredulously, narrowing her eyes. "And wait—how the hell do you know who we are?! Why should we trust you?"

Lightning grimaced, reaching up to run a hand through her bangs. "There's no reason. But I swear, I'm not with the Government. Look, I have pokémon."

She pulled back the front of her jacket, revealing a belt with poké balls attached to it around her waist. There were only four of them, but there were pokémon clearly inside. Though we had seen soldiers with pokémon, she had no weapons. As crazy as this all was, I couldn't help but believe her.

"...I believe her, Sapph," I said, looking down at my partner. "And we don't have the luxury to stand around debating it. If we're gonna save Topaz and Chase, we're gonna need some extra help."

Sapph scowled, crossing her arms over her chest. "Okay, okay, I get your point. Fine, we'll work with you. But try anything, and I'll kick your ass so fucking hard you won't be able to move for the rest of your life. Got it?"

She winced, before saying something under her breath. "...They weren't lying when they said Sapphira Senri was harsh..."

"Huh? What was that?" I asked, frowning.

She paled. "Noth... Nothing! We've wasted enough time talking here. Let's get moving. I'll lead the way."

When Lightning said she'd lead the way, she didn't just mean to wander around aimlessly. She knew this place well, like she had actually spent some time here. That made me more suspicious of her, but we had no choice but to trust her right now. Once Topaz and Chase were safe, we could ask the real questions.

But all of that aside, we had found our friends—along with our squad leader, Ross. I was glad to see that he had made it after the crash, but he had still been captured. If the enemy could capture one of our stronger soldiers, we were in big trouble. Seriously... This whole situation had discouraged me so much.

I had some choice words for Am and the High Commander.

"All right, it's time," Lightning said, snapping me out of my thoughts. "You two ready?"

Sapph nodded, her grip on her poké ball tightening, and in her other hand was one of her feather blades. "Hell yeah. I wanna get home already."

"Same," I said in a weak attempt to hide a sigh. "Today's been too much."

Lightning didn't say anything at first—just nodded. "Let me take the lead. You and your pokémon are more vulnerable to bullets than we are."

I wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but I wasn't about to argue. The last thing I needed to do was get myself shot up trying to save my comrades. Plus, Sapph would probably kill me if I died on her.

"So we're just waltzing right in?" I asked.

"...Pretty much."

So, this was it. It was now or never. We could all win or all be dead in the next few minutes. It was an odd feeling, just thinking about it. But that was how war worked.

Without another word, Lightning pushed open the door and we all stormed in.

The soldiers that were guarding them jumped to action, but Lightning released a charizard, who burned up all the bullets fired at us with a fierce Flamethrower. Sapph and I released our own pokémon—Skari and Phano respectively. The skarmory lunged forward as she used Agility, letting the momentum jet her straight into some soldiers, knocking them down. My donphan curled up into a ball, and used Rollout to knock down more soldiers like bowling pins. With those idiots taken care of, we rushed to the center of the room, where our friends sat tied up with rope. Lightning lingered behind us.

"Topaz!" I exclaimed with relief as I dropped down to my knees, seeing that she wasn't bleeding anywhere else, other than the bloodstained makeshift bandage on her arm. "Arceus, you fucking scared me."

"Gold?!" Her eyes widened in surprise. "What are you-"

"No time!" Sapph snapped as she quickly but carefully began to cut at Chase's bindings with her feather blade. "Those bastards are down, but others can come at any moment."

Not wasting any more time with words, I took out my pocket knife and began to saw at Topaz's ropes. Chase was muttering something under his breath, but I couldn't make it out. We both cut them free at the same time, but I, unlike my partner, pulled the rescued into my arms and hugged her tightly. Sapph moved onto our squad leader, who seemed to be unconscious.

"Seriously," I said in a softer tone. "I was worried about you."

"Um... thanks." She awkwardly pushed me away, pulling out of my embrace. "We were practically ambushed. There was no way out."

...I couldn't help but get the feeling that I had made her uncomfortable. Maybe... it had been wishful thinking, hoping that her telling me I was her friend and that she didn't want me to die meant she potentially could be interested in me. It wouldn't be the first time...

"Right. Makes sense." I nodded, giving her space. "I'm glad you're okay."

Sapph made a disgusted noise, probably from us being so sappy, but that noise turned into a strangled series of curse words streaming out of her mouth.

"What... do we have... here?"

We both froze. I felt my blood run cold.

I... knew that voice. I had heard it somewhere before. A sudden wave of déjà vu flooded over me. Though I knew that voice from the raiding of Twinleaf... I felt like I had been in a situation like this before... which was insane, because you'd think I would remember swooping in and saving the day—or more specifically, the girl of my dreams.

Topaz jerked away from me, skidding back and landing on her butt, her hand immediately going to one of the poké balls around her waist. The rest of us just stared in horror at the sight before us.

Obsidian Synis, standing in the doorway across from us, with a shiny nidoking by his side.

Sapph snapped out of her daze first. "Wha... What the hell are you doin' here?!"

Synis just narrowed his eyes into tiny slits that made me think of snorlax. He took one step forward, then another. I had no idea why, but this time, facing him, I felt utterly terrified. It was his stance... It was reminding me of something... something that was stirring in the back of my mind, bothering me.

But I had no chance to try to figure it out. Because Synis pointed to me. His nidoking charged. And the next thing I knew, I was pressed up against a wall, the nidoking's horn pressing delicately against my jugular.

I couldn't breathe.

"No! Gold! Let him go, you bastard!" I heard Topaz snap.

"You fuckin' bastard! Ugh, Chase, do something! Your pokémon are super strong, right?!" That was Sapph.

"I—I don't know..." Chase was still in shock.

"Silence!" Synis barked and nobody said anything else. "I am only here for what I want. If anyone gets in the way, I will kill them. And yes, that includes you, sadly enough."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lightning stepping forward from wherever she had been hiding this entire time. My heart was pounding in my chest as the nidoking's horn pressed harder and harder against my neck, its claws gripping me so tightly I was surprised my arms hadn't snapped like twigs. Sweat was making my bangs stick to my forehead.

"Let him go," Lightning stated firmly, though I could have sworn there was an uneasy edge to her voice.

"...Mauve and Azo told me about you," the President stated, completely ignoring what she said. "Why are you doing this, when your very existence could vanish into oblivion?"

Huh? What the hell was that supposed to mean? But I guess as long as she kept him talking, the longer I'd have before becoming the headless rapidashman.

"That... That doesn't matter," Lightning retorted. "Gold Kimu Jr. is important to the fate of this world."

Er, what? That wasn't my name. Yeah, we shared the same first name, but his father had been my namesake and was my ancestor. This girl had to be a little loopy.

"I will ask you once more. Let him go."

Synis... laughed. A creepy, throaty laugh that made my skin crawl and my stomach clench. Or maybe it was because I was about to die. I couldn't tell.

But then, something touching my arm, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Glancing down as the nidoking tensed, I saw it was the girl of my dreams.

"Topaz? What're you doing? This thing-"

As if to prove my point, its horn began to press even harder, cutting off some of my air. Sweat dripped down the side of my nose, barely missing my eye. Fuck fuck fuck-

"Nidoking... listen to me."

...She was going to try to talk to the pokémon?

"Do you really wanna do this? Kill someone just because your trainer tells you to? You have to know that murder is wrong—what your trainer is doing is very wrong. You're not a bad pokémon, are you? Please let Gold go. Please show us you're still good."

The nidoking... seemed to slack a bit. Its eyes glanced over at her. It just stared at her for a moment. And then, it pulled back its horn, letting go of me. I dropped to the ground, my back still up against the wall, gasping for air. Topaz bolted to my side as the nidoking turned, and let out an angry roar, as if it was speaking to its trainer.

"Gold! Are you okay?!" Topaz demanded, snapping me out of my daze. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm... fine," I got out, taking the moment to close my eyes and take a steadying breath. "Just... dandy."

Synis's next words caught our attention. "Very well, if you won't do it, someone else will."

Shit-

But Lightning's charizard dropped down in front of us.

"I won't let you!" she retorted, having walked over to join us.

At this angle, it was like, whoa, boobs. But I needed to watch myself, seeing as we were in a life or death situation and I didn't want someone to get pissed enough to leave me for dead.

Synis narrowed his eyes. "Are you challenging me to a battle?"

"Yes." Lightning raised her left hand, and I noticed some kind of bracelet on her wrist. It had a strange rainbow stone in it. "Kaen, it's time!"

The charizard nodded, unfurling her wings and clenching her claws. Lightning pressed on the rainbow stone, and it began to glow. Red light began to surround Kaen, too. We all stared in shock as she transformed before our very eyes, like she was gaining another level of evolution. Roaring as the process completed, she took to the air, her scales gleaming brilliant orange in her new form.

What the... What just happened?!

"...Impressive," Synis said. "Your charizard can achieve Mega Evolution.. and become Mega Charizard Y. I did not expect that, but I should not be surprised."

Mega... Evolution? What the hell was that? Did Professor Pine know about this?

"I had no choice but to master it," Lightning said with a slight shrug. "It was part of my training. You of all people should understand that."

Time seemed to stand still as the Mega Charizard faced off with Nidoking. The President didn't say anything for a moment. I felt Topaz grip my hand tightly, her fingers digging into my skin. But I didn't care. I just squeezed back in an attempt to be reassuring. These next few moments would tell us if we would get out of this alive or not.

"Touche." Synis paused, looking at the girl with scrutinizing eyes. "Despite the fact that you oppose me, I do not wish to harm you. I will let you all go this time, but this is the final exception. Now leave before I change my mind."

We all stared at him for a moment. But then Topaz leaped to her feet, tugging at me with our entwined hands to get up as well since she couldn't pull me up herself. I got to my feet with some effort, only to stagger, but Topaz steadied me. Lightning nodded, and without a word, gestured to all of us to follow her.

Somehow... we had survived this. We would be able to get a hovercraft, pick up the rest of our friends, and return to Mount Silver. We passed the test.

And all... because of that mysterious girl.

Hi everyone! Thank you so much for all your reviews and support. It makes me happy to see that this story is still enjoyable!

I will be posting the new character files before next week's update.

Again, thank you for your reviews, and I hope you continue to enjoy FTA.