Chapter 10:
The battle for the Capitol Building began when the Watchmen's Stilettos, atmospheric assault fighters, and assault shuttles opened fire on the weapons emplacements and the fighters patrolling Washington D.C. Missiles erupted from the weapons bays of the shuttles and fighters, targeting the Earth and allied Galactic Federation fighters and the ground based weapons emplacements surrounding the Capitol Building and others located throughout Washington D.C. Fortunately, the targeting systems of the automated emplacement weapons systems were able to automatically lock onto the missiles and fire on them, scarlet pulses of energy destroying many of the incoming missiles that had been hurtling towards the defenders. As for the others, though, the Federation and Earth Katana-class starfighters had stealth systems that were able to confuse the targeting systems of the Watchmen fighters' missiles. The Katanas flew out in front and took the brunt of the assault, either shooting down the incoming missiles or letting them strike their shields. A few missiles, however, managed to get through and began pursuing the atmospheric Earth fighters, locking onto the heat signature of the engines. As a result, the Earth fighters immediately flew directly towards the sun, a common tactic for dealing with older heat-seeking missiles. The missiles gave chase towards the fighters, but the pilots of the Watchmen fighters knew exactly what the Earth pilots were doing. They were hoping that the missiles would zero in on the sun's heat signature rather than the fighters'. Sure enough, the Earth fighters immediately banked to their sides and the missiles flew on past, heading directly towards the sun, remaining aloft until they ran out of fuel and came crashing down back to the Earth.
The Earth and Federation fighters counterattacked by unleashing their own swarm of missiles. Each fighter locked onto at least four different targets and then unleashed their missiles on the enemy fighters. The Watchman pilots were not nearly as skilled as their Earth and Federation military counterparts, for they deployed no flares, took no evasive action, or performed any other countermeasures to deal with the missiles. The fighters simply kept on flying as the missiles crossed the distance between the two forces and eventually hit their marks, exploding upon impact with the shields and hulls of the fighters, incinerating the unshielded atmospheric fighters with single hits, and merely needing two hits to shoot down the Stilettos. Smoke trailed the damaged Stilettos as they plummeted to the ground and crashed, exploding upon impact, often among allied Watchmen forces. The Watchmen did not even eject from their doomed craft, for their fighters did away with such safety systems in order to allocate the power to other systems, such as shields and weapons. Debris from the obliterated atmospheric fighters rained down upon the city as the battle raged on. Fortunately, much of the city had been evacuated before the battle had begun, and the current fighting was taking place closer to the outskirts of the city and away from the important buildings and residential areas. However, even with the missile barrages from the defending flight group, they were still heavily outnumbered merely, despite the fact that four squadrons of enemy fighters had been destroyed in the initial engagements. While many of the Stilettos had been destroyed, there were still a large number remaining, and with their help, they would be able to inflict severe damage once they got within optimum cannon range, where they excelled. And even then, the defenders still had to deal with the shuttles.
As for the ground defenses, the Watchman shuttles unleashed a volley of energy fire on the automated tanks and defensive drones protecting the city. A large number of tanks and drones were destroyed by the enemy fire, but the shuttles did not escape the fire, unscathed. The anti-aircraft defenses managed to shoot down a Heavy Assault Shuttle and a Drop Shuttle, as well as the tank it was carrying down onto the field. The shuttle crashed into the ground and exploded, propelling dirt and shrapnel in all directions. The remaining Stiletto-class fighters then went and covered the rest of the shuttles, taking the fire meant for the shuttles, as they went in as close as possible and landed their tanks. Many of the Stilettos were destroyed by the defenders' missile and energy barrage. However, they had done their job and allowed the shuttles to deploy their tanks. Most of the tanks deployed were normal Federation main battle tanks, but three of them were Landmaster tanks from Corneria, with the fourth Landmaster having been destroyed when its shuttle had been destroyed. The shuttles remained close to the transports so that they could cover the troops landing. However, the Katanas and atmospheric fighters, which had still suffered no casualties yet, had other ideas. They proceeded to unleash a volley of missiles upon the transports. The Drop Shuttles endured the brunt of the missile strikes and were quickly destroyed, but not before the Troop Transports managed to land and disgorged their troops. The Watchman leader, a tall, blue skinned humanoid belonging to the Nalar race, wearing golden powered armor with a built in shoulder plasma cannon, quickly took notice of that fact and bellowed, "Okay men, we've gotta get to the Building as quickly as possible. The closer we are, the smaller the chance of those starfighters takin' us out!"
To that effect, the Watchman tanks formed a line and proceeded to roll forward with the infantry troops proceeding behind them, using them for cover. While this tactic may have proven effective against a ground force once air superiority had been achieved, the fact that the defenders of the Capitol Building had fighter support, as well as air superiority, put a quick end to this plan. A squadron of Warthogs, banked towards the tanks and unleashed barrage after barrage of energy fire from their gatling energy cannons upon the troops and tanks. The Landmaster tanks, which had ostensibly been designed for anti-aircraft purposes, opened fire with their energy cannons. Large green energy pulses erupted from the Landmasters' cannons and streaked towards the fighters. However, the fighters were too fast and too maneuverable for the cannons of the Landmasters to be able to track and get a reliable bead on. The inability of the Landmasters' cannons to charge a homing laser made it nigh impossible for the Landmasters to shoot them down. The Earth fighters, however, did not have the same problem, especially since these fighters were attack fighters. Missiles erupted from underneath the wings of the fighters, flying towards the tanks. Within seconds, eight tanks had been destroyed, another tank, this one a Landmaster, had suffered severe shield damage and had had its left tread blown off and its primary weapon destroyed. The surviving two Landmaster and the standard Federation main battle tank proceeded to roll forward, firing barrages of energy towards the tanks defending the Capitol Building before the fighters finished them off. A few blasts managed to hit the defending Earth tanks, but blue fields of energy surrounded the tanks, protecting them from harm. The Earth tanks promptly returned fire, scarlet energy pulses erupting from their cannons. The pulses burned through the remaining shields and armor of the Watchman tanks and promptly blew them apart. The surviving ground troops were now without any armor support, and easy picking for the Earth tanks and Marine forces.
The Watchman leader, knowing that this battle was quickly being lost, but also knowing the importance of this mission, activated his comm and yelled, "All Troop Transports, get your asses over here, now! We're gettin' annihilated and need cover ASAP!"
"We copy, sir," the squadron commander of the Troop Transports replied over the radio. "We're on our way."
The large, boxy Troop Transports activated their repulsors and ascended into the air. A few Earth Katanas noticed them going to cover the ground troops that were making their way to the Capitol Building and broke off their engagements with some of the remaining Watchman atmospheric fighters and went to engage the transports. The sleek Katanas banked towards the transports and quickly locked onto them with their anti-vehicle missiles. The large transports were unwieldy enough for their air-to-surface missiles to be able to score a hit, and they would need such missiles to quickly breach the shielding and armor of said transports. Once the fighters had locked onto the transports, the unleashed their barrage of missiles. The missiles erupted from the internal weapons bays of the fighters, two missiles per fighter, and streaked towards the rearmost of the transports. Crossing the distance between the fighters and the transports in only a couple seconds, the missiles slammed into the shields of the transports. The shields glowed a deep blue with the first missile strike as the missiles stressed the shields to the point of breaking, and on one of the transports, even beyond. The second missile of each fighter then slammed into either the weakened shields or the hull of the transport. The unshielded transport had had its engine completely blown off by the second missile strike, and the fuel in its fuel tank ignited. The transport exploded in midair, raining metallic debris down upon the ground troops.
The other two transports fared little better. The remaining missiles struck the three remaining weakened transports and quickly breached the shields. The blue fields of energy sparked and promptly vanished and the remaining energy was transferred to the hulls of the transports. Fire erupted from the engine walls of the stricken transports and the blue glows of some of the engines vanished. Explosions rang out from other areas along the transports and soon, the three transports listed downwards. With only half of their engines and repulsors still functioning, the doomed transports fell down to the Earth, where they crashed into the ground, throwing up dirt and debris. Since the transports still had some of their engines left, they were able to use the power from the engines to cushion the fall, so that the transports did not fall apart upon striking the ground. That was little comfort to the troops that they had fallen upon and crushed during their crashes, though.
The rest of the Katana squadron soon rejoined the smaller flight and the squadron was once again back up to full strength. After the squadron was back to full strength, the fighters took the fight to the Troop Transports. After locking onto the transports, the Katanas fired volley after volley of air-to-surface missiles, knowing that they would need the added firepower, and the fact that the transports were so difficult to maneuver. Missiles rocketed from the fighters and quickly crossed the distance between them and the rest of the transports. The first volley of missiles struck the transports and blue fields of energy sprang into existence as the shields resisted the first volley. The Katanas then opened up with another volley of missiles and the weakened shields of the transports could not resist the second volley. The missiles quickly plowed through the shields and detonated against the hulls of the transports. Explosions rang out and the rears of many transports erupted into flames, those that were not split in half or outright blown to pieces by the missile fire. The flaming transports took an involuntary dive into the ground, where they exploded and sprayed the battlefield, and the Watchman lines, with shrapnel. The Watchman leader dove to the ground, praying that he would not be shredded by the shrapnel and/or that his armor would hold should he be struck. He was fortunate in that his dive had managed to save him from taking the brunt of the assault. Two of his comrades were not so lucky. Their armor had managed to protect them from the smaller pieces of metal propelled towards them, but several large metallic daggers had been launched with so much force that even their armor had failed against them. The Watchmen, both being Nalar, fell to the ground, metal triangles and sharp squares embedded in their abdomens and heads.
The Watchman leader watched as the few surviving transports were taken care of by the Katana squadron. The squadron had foregone their missiles in favor of their pulse laser cannons. Scarlet pulses of energy erupted from the fighters' twin cannons and lashed out against the shields of the lumbering transports. The troops immediately underneath the transports, knowing that the transports above them were more liabilities than assets at the moment, began to flee from the shadows of the massive ships, not wanting to be crushed by the ships when they fell, or killed by the resulting explosions upon their crashes. After two passes, the fighters had stripped the transports of their shields. These transports fought back valiantly, though ineffectively, as they sprayed blue and green energy fire towards the attacking fighters. The Katanas looped around one last time and unleashed another torrent of energy fire at the transports. With their shields gone, the lasers tore through the ships' hulls uncontested. Fires erupted from the engines and other sections of the large ships as more and more laser blasts scored direct hits on the transports and penetrated their hulls. The fighters proceeded to rake the engines of the surviving transports with laser fire; intent on having them crash down onto more of their own troops. The laser fire burned through the engine walls of the ships and soon, instead of a crisp blue glow emerging from the engines, only fire and debris emerged. With the engines reduced to slag, the ships could no longer stay aloft and they soon crashed down to the Earth. Just as with the last batch of transports, once these transports crashed into the ground, they exploded. The casualties incurred by the exploding transports were far less than with the previous crashes, but that gave the Watchmen little comfort as they were now without any air support to speak of, save for the Heavy Assault Shuttles, which were would be no match for the Katanas and the atmospheric fighters used by Earth's defenses.
The twenty-four Katanas and Earth atmospheric air superiority fighters soon banked towards their next victims, the Heavy Assault Shuttles, which were opening fire on the anti-aircraft and anti-vehicle emplacement weapons stationed throughout the grounds leading to the Capitol Building. Missiles and energy fire blazed away from the shuttles and gouged noticeable craters into the dirt. The emplacement weapons and personal force fields that were set up for defense against tanks and infantry soldiers were no match for the amount fire that was being unleashed against them. Dirt was thrown into the faces of fleeing Earth and Federation Marines as they retreated from the shuttles and searched for cover before the shuttles destroyed them. Fortunately, they were soon reinforced by the Katanas and the Earth fighters. Missiles seemingly came out of nowhere, streaking towards the shuttles. The only thing the soldiers on the ground were the contrails of the missiles along with the missiles for the instant before said missiles struck the shuttles. The shields of the shuttles were noticeably weaker than the shields on the Troop Transports, and as such, they were no match for the fighters. Blue fields of energy surrounded the shuttles upon impact, but the fields quickly showed their lack of power when they flickered and broke apart with single hits. The residual damage inflicted by the missiles burnt the hulls of several shuttles. The second missiles of each pack quickly burrowed into the hulls of the shuttles and detonated, quickly blowing apart many of the shuttles. Being not much more maneuverable than the transports meant that they were easy pickings for the fighters, which still had enough anti-surface weapons to inflict significant casualties to the Heavy Assault Shuttles before they expended their missile ordnance. Large sections of the hulls of the shuttles rained down on the field of battle. Being in front of the main advance of the Watchman ground troops, though, the shuttles' destruction did not directly kill many of the Watchman soldiers. However, their absence would be felt within moments. The Katanas and Earth atmospheric fighters soon came about and finished off the remaining Heavy Assault Shuttles. Now the ground troops were without any air support, save for the few remaining fighters, or armor support. They were sitting ducks.
The Watchman leader quickly realized that this assault would be futile, but he knew the importance of taking the Capitol Building. While the shuttles were under attack, he activated his radio and yelled, "This is Watchman Batallion Alpha Leader Ma'vi to Regiment Commander Tashin, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear Ma'vi. So far, things are quiet here in New York, how are things goin' with you?" came Tashin's response.
"We're gettin' annihilated here! We've lost all of our armor and heavy air support. We need reinforcements immediately!"
"But if I send you any troops, there won't be enough to defend the Radio Tower!" Tashin warned.
"We don't have a choice!" Ma'vi roared. "We've inflicted minimal, if any, casualties to the Earth and Federation defenders around the Capitol Building. They're force-feeding us our privates down here. We need backup!"
There was a long pause, during which Ma'vi witnessed the last of his Heavy Assault Shuttles being taken down. He looked at his hand-held status indicator and found that the defenders had only lost two atmospheric fighters; and their pilots had managed to eject safely no less. He cursed as he soon saw the tanks and attack fighters bearing down on him and his troops. He knew that the end was coming. The radio soon crackled once more and he heard the voice of Tashin inform him, "We're sendin' you our Assault Shuttles and assault fighters. However, that's all of the extra forces that I'm willing to commit to the attack on the Capitol Building. You'll have to make due with that."
The radio signal was then unceremoniously cut. Ma'vi sighed after the signal was cut, knowing that his forces would be slaughtered before they could take the Capitol Building. Assault Shuttles and assault fighters were not what he and his forces needed. They needed air support to take out the Earth fighters and Katanas. Even with their missile ordnance expended, he knew that it would only be a matter of time before the defenses of Washington D.C. would be reinforced. He soon saw the first of its reinforcements coming in the form of a second squadron of Katanas. He knew that these fighters were fresh and would quickly maul the pitiful Assault Shuttles and assault fighters that were coming to reinforce his troops. He merely prayed that Elric would arrive soon, for if he did not, then whatever Samus and the others were planning would likely come to fruition. Still, he knew that he had a job to do, and he would do it. He would take as many of these Earth scum with him as he could. He then rose and began to run towards the Earth and Federation tanks and Marines that were bearing down on his forces. However, before he could even issue a scream of defiance, the fighters, tanks, and Marines opened fire on him and the remaining Watchmen. A torrent of red was all he saw as he was annihilated by the combined fire of a tank's energy cannon, a Federation Marine, and a Katana-class starfighter opening up with its heavy pulse laser cannons.
Meanwhile, back in his lab in Veilstone City, Cyrus checked over the final reports and simulations. He smiled as he read over the reports and readouts. So far, every simulation indicated that he had everything he needed to unleash Dark Arceus. He had the Red Chain and the Azure Flute. The Azure Flute would allow him access to the Hall of Origin, which would grant him access to Dark Arceus. He looked down at a sheet of paper that contained the musical notes that he would have to play in order to open the stairway to the hall.
Cyrus then went over and picked up the Flute and held it in his hands. He blew into it and played the song that would make the stairway appear. The Vice-Chairman smiled. He imagined his new universe being created from the ruins of the current one. He could hear the screams of the inhabitants of this universe as they were destroyed by Dark Arceus to be used as fuel for Cyrus's own new universe. He looked around and saw that he was alone, for the moment. "Everything is finally coming to fruition," Cyrus muttered quietly, as if talking to the orb. "Soon, I will become a god; a god of a new universe. There will be no more emotions, no more pain, no more suffering, no more joy or happiness. It will only be me. Me, and whatever else I desire." His face then split into an insane grin. He felt like laughing maniacally for a moment, but resisted the urge. It was not over yet. He thought back to that time two years ago when he was stopped by a single Pokémon trainer. He had been so close to accomplishing his goals then, only to be stopped. He could not afford to make the same mistakes that he had made two years ago.
He turned to leave his lab and prepare his helicopter to take him to the Spear Pillar when his secretary entered the lab. Her entry almost startled Cyrus and he stopped. Not knowing whether or not she had startled him, she said, "Forgive my coming unannounced, but I have some information on the other targets of Elric."
"Can it wait?" Cyrus asked, perturbed. "I'm in an awful hurry."
"Sir, you really should hear this. It may pertain to your mission." She then handed him a folder. Cyrus sifted through the papers and saw the pictures of various people and creatures on the top left corners of each page. At first, Cyrus paid little heed to the papers and was about to plop them down on his desk when he noticed the face of a young Pokémon trainer. He had short black hair, hazel eyes, and was wearing a hat in the picture. Cyrus began to seethe as he recognized the Pokémon trainer that had stopped him before, Ash Ketchum. He read over the file and saw that Ash had been a person of interest for Chairman Elric. He widened his eyes at the revelation, unable to hide his surprise.
"Elric is after this boy?" he asked, almost in disbelief.
His secretary nodded. "Yes, sir. He is. But he is not the only one. Check the other files."
Cyrus then thumbed through the other files and searched for faces that he could recognize. He quickly recognized the faces of Council Members Colin Williams and Madeline Powell. He saw that there was a red "X" mark next to the face of a young female Pokémon trainer identified as Leaf. He saw that this indicated that Elric had believed the girl to be dead, but his own people may have found out otherwise. He continued to search through the files, finding Donkey Kong on the next page. After that, he found the face of Samus. "No surprise there," he muttered. He knew all too well of the nightmare that Samus had been for Elric. What he found next, however, did surprise him. On the next page, he found the picture of a humanoid cat-like creature with white skin or fur, save for its tail. The features on this creature were menacing, and it seemed to be quite powerful. Cyrus did not notice his secretary move behind him and look over his shoulder. "It's a Pokémon," she told him.
Again, Cyrus looked startled, but it was not his secretary's voice that startled him. He turned around and stammered, "A Pokémon? That thing?"
She nodded. "Yes. There are several rumors about its origins. Some say it's a clone created by Team Rocket. Others say that it's a child of Mew. The only thing that we know for certain, though, is that this was classified as an S-class threat and that if sighted, Elric should be informed immediately."
An S-class threat? Cyrus mused. That's the same threat level as Dark Arceus. "Why are you showing me this Pokémon, then? We haven't seen it at all," Cyrus told her.
"Because we know that Elric has special allies. And it seems as if even these allies are worried about this creature, too," his secretary answered. "If they are worried, then we should be too, especially since this Pokémon is likely a psychic-type Pokémon, if the rumors about it being connected to Mew are true."
It was then that Cyrus grimaced. Things may have just changed greatly. He had heard about the legendary Pokémon, Mew, and how Mew was said to have been the origin of all Pokémon on Earth. While his own research had borne that out, he knew that Mew had no connection with extraterrestrial Pokémon such as Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and Arceus. Still, he could not discount the potential danger that this Mewtwo could hold. He read over the paper, which was sparse on information, but it did state that Mewtwo was said to be one of the most powerful Pokémon in terms of Special Attack and Speed. Cyrus doubted that this Pokémon could rival a power like Arceus or Dark Arceus, but he did not want to take any chances.
He turned to his secretary and said, "Thank you. Forward this information to Charon. He'll want to learn of this."
"There's more," she informed him. "We have recently heard that a battle is being waged between the Watchmen and the Earth forces around Washington D.C. Elric's worried about something, for he sent half of his Watchman forces on Earth to take over the Capitol Building."
"Probably to take control of Earth's Planetary Defense Grid," the Vice-Chairman surmised.
The secretary nodded. "But he also stationed the remainder of his Earthbound Watchmen outside of the Radio Tower in New York."
A grin twisted Cyrus's lips. "Get on the comm and tell Charon and the others to accelerate their plans. I'm going to meet them at Spear Pillar as quickly as possible. I want them there and ready to begin as soon as I arrive."
"But sir, won't it take at least a week until we will be certain that everything will go as planned?" his secretary asked. "We still don't know if Dark Arceus can even be controlled. You said you hoped to take a test run with Dialga, Palkia, and/or Giratina before we tried with Dark Arceus."
"I know, but circumstances have forced our hand," Team Galactic's leader replied, scowling at no one in particular. "Just get all of our soldiers to Spear Pillar as soon as possible. And tell them to take as many Dark-type Pokémon as possible, along with their strongest Pokémon as well. We'll need them incase Elric shows up or we get an unexpected visit from the Pokémon League or this Mewtwo." He paused before explaining further, "We have an opportunity to accomplish all of our goals right here, right now. Elric's busy with Samus; Samus is busy with Elric. Ash and the other powerful Pokémon trainers are undoubtedly looking over their shoulders, doing their best to avoid Elric's Watchmen. All of those who are the greatest threat to me have other things to worry about. The Watchmen are fighting in Washington, and will soon be fighting in New York. We have a chance to release Dark Arceus now, with no one even knowing what we're planning, much less actually being in a position to stop us. Nevertheless, I want to take the proper precautions this time. Just get everyone to Spear Pillar, but do so discretely. I don't want the sudden move to tip our enemies to our plans."
"Understood, sir," the secretary replied. "I will inform our agents to abandon their missions and meet you at the Spear Pillar as soon as possible."
"Good," Cyrus replied. As the secretary exited his lab, Cyrus turned to study the dossiers a bit more. He had not heard of these Mario Brothers or Donkey Kong, and Ash Ketchum and his Pikachu were safely in the Unova Region in America. He knew that chances were that he would be meeting them were slim. He was wondering if he should be concerned about Captain Falcon, but he remembered that Falcon was better known as an F-Zero racer than as a part-time bounty hunter. And Samus was likely going to be busy with Elric. The only reason Elric would be so concerned about taking control of Earth's Defense Grid and the Radio Tower would be if Samus had managed to get some dirt on him. Perhaps she had found out about his part in the Space Pirate attack on Daiban, Elric mused. Cyrus could not help but grin. He knew that Elric's own lust for power and for turning the Federation into an Empire would backfire, but it would also provide him with the perfect cover for accomplishing his own goals. And if the rumor that Elric had the help of these Magic Lords was indeed true, it would be all the better for him. All of the old races knew of the threat of the Magic Lords. Even he had taken the time to study all of the information that the Federation currently had on the Magic Lords when he had first heard about them. No one knew of the threat that would be posed by Dark Arceus, for the short time he would be in this realm before he reduced it, and everyone in it, to dust and to the primordial stuff of the universe.
With that thought, Cyrus took the Red Chain and the Azure Flute and exited his lab, making his way through the Team Galactic Headquarters and to the roof. On the roof was a twin engine, tandem rotor helicopter reminiscent of the old CH-47 Chinooks used in the late Earth twentieth century and early twenty-first century. Emblazon on the side of the helicopter was a massive, stylized "G", the emblem of Team Galactic. He did not care whether or not it drew attention to him. With all that was going on in Washington and New York, he doubted that it would even matter. The helicopter was already ready to go, its rotors twirling and the helicopter set to standby. The side hatch to the helicopter was open, awaiting Cyrus's entrance. He knew that the ride would take a couple of hours or so and the set up once he was at Spear Pillar would take longer. He merely hoped that everything would be ready to go by the time he got to the pillar. Before boarding the helicopter, he checked to make sure that he had his strongest Pokémon with him. He could feel his six Poké Balls in his pocket and smiled. He then fumbled inside his jacket and felt the laser pistol in a holster on his shoulder. He wanted to be certain that he had a backup weapon should his Pokémon be taken out of action for whatever reason. Once he was certain that he was ready, he boarded the helicopter. Once he was onboard, he closed the hatch behind him and waited as the helicopter lifted off from the roof of the Team Galactic hideout and proceeded to make its way towards Spear Pillar.
Not too far away, Kreatz and Mauk were making their final approach to a landing zone for their shuttle when they noticed a helicopter taking off from a building in Veilstone City. At first, they made nothing of it until a signal appeared on their own shuttle monitor. Immediately, the words, Designated Target located, appeared on the screen, and the helicopter that had taken off was bathed in red. Everyone in the cockpit took notice of the sign and Dawn asked, "Designated target? What does that mean?"
"It means that one of the Watchmen's targets has been found on that helicopter that just took off from that building in Veilstone City," Kreatz explained.
"How many targets do you have?" asked Brock.
"Who knows," Kreatz heaved. "I can barely keep track of them all. Though I'm not what you would call a loyal Watchman."
The two then scanned the helicopter and found nothing all that unusual about it. They figured that it was just one of the old Earth aerial vehicles that was taking some important person away from some building. Kreatz and Mauk then glanced at each other and decided that it would be best to continue with their first assignment and drop off the children and Pokémon trainers. They had a feeling that Donkey Kong and Captain Falcon would want to remain onboard the shuttle. As such, they found a landing zone not too far away and they proceeded to make their way over to the zone. Once they were over the zone, Kreatz put the shuttle into hover mode and began to descend. As the shuttle descended, the ship's landing pads were lowered and after a few moments, the shuttle touched down, a faint shudder reverberating throughout the ship.
Once the shuttle had safely landed, Kreatz proclaimed humorously, "Thank you for riding Kreatz Air. Please watch your step as you disembark from the shuttle."
With that he pushed a button and the boarding ramp of the shuttle began to descend. Once the ramp was fully extended down to the ground, the youngest of the children were the first to disembark from the shuttle, practically fleeing the craft. Kreatz and Mauk could not blame them, for their abductions had been trying to say the least. The children were soon followed by Dawn, then Brock, then Ethan, and Lyra. Cynthia was the last to begin to leave. She went up to both Kreatz and Mauk and told them, "Thank you for not giving in, and helping to save us, especially the children."
"You're welcome, Champion Cynthia," Kreatz and Mauk both responded. "You're welcome to stay with us," Mauk offered.
"I can't," Cynthia almost lamented. "I have to watch over the younger children as we inform their parents, assuming they're still alive, that their children are safe and sound. I'm also going to be doing my best to protect them from any reprisals. Rumors have abounded that Cyrus has come back to Sinnoh. I would not be surprised to find some Watchmen in this region on the lookout for him, but also willing to recapture some escapees as well."
"We understand," Mauk answered. Kreatz, however, had hoped that Cynthia would stay, mainly because he thought that she was attractive. Once the final goodbyes were made, the Sinnoh League Champion disembarked from the shuttle and joined the younger children and other Pokémon trainers in beginning to explore Veilstone City.
After Cynthia departed, the two shuttle pilots looked back and saw Captain Falcon and Donkey Kong remaining onboard the ship, making no moves towards the exit. "So, what are you two going to do?" Kreatz inquired. "If you want to get off here, you can. If you want to get off somewhere else, just tell us and we'll take you there. It's the least we can do for you given your unceremonious captures."
"I can't speak for Donkey Kong, but I wish to remain here," Captain Falcon told the two. "You're going into a combat zone and I wish to help out my homeworld against these Watchmen."
"That's fine with us," Mauk replied. He then turned to Donkey Kong and asked, "And what about you, Donkey Kong? What do you wish to do?"
"I'm coming with you guys," the big ape answered. "I want to pound some more of these Watchmen into the ground," he proclaimed. He then picked up one of the discarded rifles of the Watchmen and cocked it. It appeared as if he was familiar with such weapons.
Both Kreatz and Mauk smiled. "Well, you guys better get comfortable. The ride to the war zone over in Washington and then in New York won't be short."
The others then went and took two stations that had previously been occupied by the Watchmen soldiers that had attempted to kill them. After they had taken their seats, Kreatz and Mauk took their seats as well. Once they were settled in, Kreatz initiated the startup sequence for the shuttle. A low hum echoed throughout the shuttle cabin and both he and Mauk performed the final checks on the systems. Once they were ready to go, the boarding ramp retracted and the shuttle proceeded to lift off: its next destination, Washington D.C.