Route 105 was rather cold. From what Mr. Briney said the ocean had a never ending breeze that was usually akin to the season. With it being nearly winter, the cold winds were not so much of a good time.

Regardless of it almost being winter though, the temperature rarely dropped below 45 degrees Fahrenheit in Hoenn, what with it being an island nation. It only got that low really out at sea and at night.
I was currently standing atop Mr. Briney's small fishing vessel. It was a nice little boat, had a captain cabin below deck and above deck what Mr. Briney called, "The Bridge" where he would steer the ship. He fondly proclaimed that this mighty vessels name was the S.S. Peeko.
I was at the railing at the forefront of the ship, staring out at the never ending horizon of ocean before us.
Miguel and Elizabeth were below deck resting, considering I woke them up in the middle of the night because I had a ride that was totally okay with leaving, right now.
In retrospect, there was no reason I had to leave in the middle of the night, but the urge to leave Rustboro behind grew with each word Mr. Briney spoke on his reasoning on giving us safe passage to Dewford Town,

"I was a friend of Pokémon once, like yourself... it's an admirable profession. And sadly, the way the world is, the only ones who can bring the rest of us closer to Pokémon again, are the ones that already are. I'll take you where your heart desires lad, but you need to promise me something in return... Whatever happens out there, don't get too caught up thinking you can do it alone, because you can't, and it'll kill ya. I can tell your heart desires what mine does, unity. Just promise you don't take unity at the cost of your own neutrality."

I promised him. How couldn't I? Behind Mr. Briney's cheerful appearance, you could see the pain in his eyes, the youth long gone. I assumed he lived in Western Hoenn before the war, and just couldn't bear to leave even after the western side of Hoenn turned into what it is now.
As the S.S. Peeko craned over another large wave, I placed my head in my hands and rubbed my eyes, turning towards the bridge and entering it.
Mr. Briney stood at the wheel behind a small window and was staring out at the sea,

"How's it going?"

I asked as I sat down on a small bench, a pillow on it,

"Lad, when you ask each hour, your answer will only vary approximately six to seven times asked."

I laughed and laid down on the bench,

"How do you know where to sail?"

"I've made the trip to Dewford Town many times... I've brought Trainers over across route 105 many, many times, even further down to Slateport I've gone. The sea has been the way she has been for centuries, and I have spent my life learning of her waters."

I smiled, "So you memorized the route based of what, the depth of the water?"

"No lad, the S.S. Peeko has a sailing satellite GPS so I can navigate more than fifty miles off the coast."

I sat up with a dumbfounded look, and Mr. Briney burst into an old, crackling laugh... I couldn't help but join in.

-

"So you're sure you're okay?"

I sighed and crossed my arms, nodding for the seventh time,

"Yeah bro, I'm good."

Miguel was currently asking about how I was doing thanks to my first gym battle with Roxanne, but it felt more like a lecture.
As he described it, apparently most trainers grab their Pokémon and run, earning them a gym badge, the seal of approval to go on out into the world. Me on the other hand, I attacked back, which I wasn't too worried about, hell Miguel said it himself all those weeks ago,

"Your life is more important than theirs."

And it was at that moment, that whoever you'd be fighting in that situation would be thinking the same thing... perspective changes everything,

"I was just checking on you is all, I know it is a wake up call."

I shrugged in response, "It's not like I haven't been in that situation before. If anything the only shocking part was that another Trainer was trying to kill me."

"I know... you'll be happy to know that the rest of the gyms are going to be linear, straight up Pokémon battles, so, I hope Jess and Odin are trained up enough, because it might be awhile before you are able to come to Dewford and face Brawly again."

"What's his shindig?"

"Fighting types. So Odin will have neither the upper hand or the lower hand with them, Jess either, it'll be a battle of dealing the most damage."

I nodded, "I don't think it'll be that hard. But I'll expect the challenge none the less."

Miguel smiled, "I can't wait to see how you do in an actual Gym Battle."

"LAAAAAAND HOOOOOO!"

Both Miguel and I jumped at the sudden outburst and then turned to look at the bridge of the S.S. Peeko.
Mr. Briney was pointing off the right side of the ship, and if you followed his gaze, off in the distance, just barely coming into view, was not only an island, but the next step on this mad quest,

"Dewford Town."

-

It took us about an hour from spotting the faint image of Dewford Town to arriving on the islands shores. We were slowly coming to an open dock in the large little bay that appeared to be the main point of entry to Dewford.
Dewford Town was nice, it wasn't the tall buildings and thousands of people. Dewford was just a whole bunch of small buildings, lots of streets, bunch of people, but without the hustle and bustle... and that might've been due to the patrols of Western Army Soldiers walking up and down the streets,

"Son of a..."

"They upped the security."

I turned to Miguel and Elizabeth who were standing on the deck of the S.S. Peeko as well,

"Why are there so many stationed here?"

"Probably because of what happened on Route 103."

Both turned to look at me with a confused face, not following,

"The Eastern Army Charizard guys, they stopped briefly here at Dewford before making the final leg of the trip to Route 103. They probably needed to let their Charizards rest, and they probably had to fight off the small amount of Greenies here to do so."

"Hence the upped security..."

"So they can't do it again."

"Exactly."

Now that we were all on the same page, we turned back towards Dewford as we began to pull into dock,

"So how are we going to get to the Granite Cave?"

An hour later we were in our respective booked rooms in the Pokémon Center. It was decided that I'd take on Brawly first, before we figure out a way into the Granite Cave. Supposedly the cave was built up into a large garrison of Western Army soldiers, and a large base, so it was seemingly decided we might not even be able to get in. I on the other hand, decided otherwise...
Tying up my new hiking boots that had been purchased during my wardrobe makeover and which replaced my dads old combat boots, I tucked the excess lace into the top of the boots and shouldered my backpack.
Almost all my supplies were on my bed, trying to keep things light, the only things in my backpack were my Kevlar helmet and my Pokemon's Pokeballs.
I was wearing all black in addition too my already black backpack and boots, black jeans with a black t-shirt and hoodie, my black flatrim atop my head. The resemblance was akin to the day I left home for this crazy jounrey, and I felt a wave of nostalgia wash over me,

"Hmph." I turned towards the door to see Jess and Odin waiting patiently, "Alright guys. We're gunna go... cause some trouble."

-

Two hours later landed myself, Jess, and Odin trekking through the island jungle. Cayde was technically with us as well, I had convinced him to stay in his Pokeballs for this one, his size a main factor what with him being even taller than I am, and promised I'd let him loose if we got into trouble.
I could see the lights from the base built in and around the cave through the jungle canopy despite how thick it was, and that prompted me to try and get to some high ground and look at the base from their.
Luckily, the cave seemed to be apart of a small mountain, if the only one on the island, and the base had carved right into it, leaving a sizable cliff overlooking the base.
We were finally coming up on the peak of the cliff, I could only assume that much since the lights were no longer coming through the canopy, but directly from my right,

"Let's give it a gander..."

I started heading towards the cliff, Odin and Jess on my heels when Jess let out a quiet bark.

I froze and looked to her in a whisper, "What girl?"

She quickly pointed her nose to our left and raised her left paw to her chest.
My heart froze in fear as well as proudly, before we set out, I told Jess that if she smelt anyone or sensed anyone, her being the best for the job being a canine, to do exactly as she just did, like hunting Pokémon on TV.
I was proud she did it so well... but I was terrified because that confirmed my suspicion on patrols not just inside the base, but around it,

"Shit."

Without a seconds hesitation, my body was moving on its own and I wound up crouched behind the twisting and curving roots of a large jungle tree, Odin and Jess peaking over the top of it, myself included.
We could see our adversaries easily, a small group of green clad soldiers toting weapons slowly and loudly making their way through the jungle underbrush.
They obviously weren't expecting to find anyone on their routine route, all the members of the group were either gossiping or loudly crashing through the brush. If they were even giving stealth a bit of thought, you would easily lose sight of them in the brush, their green uniforms obviously built for Hoenn's environment and camouflaging them magnificently. The only reason I could even see them was because of how obnoxious they were acting.

I felt a small tap on my leg and looked down to see Jess nudging me with her nose. I shrugged towards her, wondering what she wanted at a time like this, and was rewarded with her looking towards the tree tops.
I followed her gaze upward, looking into the thick branches of the jungle canopy. Odin was crouched on one such branch, waving somewhat frantically,

"I would honestly be hopeless without you guys…"

In a whisper, I had Jess hold tightly to my shoulders and wrap herself along the back of my neck, nearly atop my backpack, and started climbing the tree we were hiding behind as quickly yet quietly as possible.
By the time my left hand grasped the branch Odin was perched on, the voices of the group of soldiers were close enough to make out what they were saying.
Odin grabbed my fingers and started frantically pulling me up into the tree canopy, to little effect. Despite the current situation I couldn't help but break a smile for a second, and then grab the branch with my other hand as well and pull myself up,

"Grrrr..."

I made a mental note to up my exercise routine, because I was crouching on the branch completely exhausted, the last pull onto this branch being the most tasking part, hell I'm pretty sure I growled my way up here.
Regardless of my heavy breathing, I pulled my shirt up over my mouth and nose, hopelessly thinking it would quiet my breaths at least a bit.
We were about ten to eleven feet off the ground, a good two humans tall, even if I just sat here quietly, something told me I wasn't quite safe enough, so I made every precaution I could before the soldiers ended up directly below me... at least I thought I did.
The first soldier came into view, his weapon hanging from a sling around his chest, hands in his pockets, he was just casually leading the group along their patrol.
The next two soldiers appeared, these ones actually looked as if they were taking their job seriously, both had their weapons in their hands, slightly raised, yet they still casually were gazing to the left and right of the "formation" If you could call it that... Finally another two soldiers appeared, talking and joking with one another... something about how sick of Dewford one was, and how the other wished they could be in club in Petalburg.
All seemed to be going well... they were all just about to pass when the first soldier spun around angrily,

"Would you two shut the fuck up!?"

I think I was surprised as the last two soldiers in regards to the outburst. One of the soldiers sighed and gripped his rifle,

"Roger Sergeant..."

The other sort of snorted and shrugged, "Sure thing."

The "Sergeant", the soldier up front turned and pointed to the soldier with an attitude,

"You better get your shit together Jennings, I'm sick of your attitude. One negative report and I can send you to the line."

"The line?"

I assumed it was a different place the Western Army could station its soldiers, and based off the scowl the one called Jennings was casting the Sergeant, I'd assume it wasn't someplace anyone wanted to go,

"Roger Sergeant." Jennings said trough gritted teeth.

The Sergeant turned round and got in Jennings face, "I'm serious, get your shit together private. Am I clear?"

"Crystal."

The two stared each other down for a moment before the Sergeant turned and made his way back to the front of the formation,

"Let's go."

I let go a sigh of relief as the group started marching away... and then my phone rang.
Nearly jumping off the branch, I scrambled into my pockets and hit the silent button along the edge of my phone, spamming the lower volume button on the opposite side.
Odin had his hands on his head and was looking at me with a worried look, and Jess growled atop my shoulder.
Hushing Jess nervously I looked down at the group, which to my disappointment, had their weapons raised and were slowly making their way back towards us,

"Son of a-"

Odin started making his way along the tree branches quietly and rather skillfully. He waved towards me from a few branches away.
I nodded, and stood on the thick branch,

"What am I a Mankey?"

Just as I was about to take my first step into the next large branch, an ear rattling sound pierced the air... gunfire.
My heart jumping into my throat I ran forward instinctively to the next branch, and then leaping to the next and next. The entire canopy around me seemed to be tearing itself apart. Loud whiz's and pops were exploding in my ears in addition to the sound of the gunfire, and the bark and branches being struck by bullets.
It was chaos. I had my arms up around my head and grabbing frantically at passing vines and branches for balance as I haphazardly jumped across the treetops after Odin. All the different sounds in my head were making it incredibly hard to think straight, and every time I heard a pop I felt the need to hold my head as if something just rushed by.
In an instant everything went quiet and I grabbed a thick branch over my head. I strained against my legs and arms to hold myself perfectly still, Odin still a few branches in front of me, Doing the same, him crouching with a glare upon his face.
I heard some metallic clanking around beneath and behind us, and then the unmistakable sound of a bullet being Chambered into a weapon.
Sucking in a deep breath, my mind began spinning again as I prepared to rush forward once again, when a voice Pierced the silence,

"That was your last chance Jennings! What the fuck were you thinking!?"

"I probably got whoever was hiding up there! Another mag should drop the guys body!"

"You're an idiot! It was just a Pokémon! We get enough bad rep for putting them down in base, but now we got soldiers peppering them in the wild!?"

"Sarge I'm telling you it was a ringtone!"

"A ringtone? How!? Who the fuck would be out here, and stupid enough to leave their phone on!?"

There was silence...

"That's what I thought! You're done for Jennings, you're going to the front."

"S-sarge please-!"

"Shut it! You're done! Keep yourself in check for the last leg of the patrol, now let's move it out!"

I listened carefully for their footsteps to disappear and then stayed put for another good minute or so before turning around and scanning the area below us.
Odin came up next to me and punched my leg,

"I know... my bad."

I pulled out my phone and checked who was calling... it wasn't Miguel or Elizabeth as anticipated... but my mom.
I sighed and placed the phone back in my pocket, taking my hat off and running my fingers through my hair.
I was shaking, and visibly so. Putting my hat back on and placing my head in my hands, moaning quietly,

"So... think we caused enough trouble for tonight?"

I looked at Odin nervously and he shrugged, a small grin on his face, along with a glare of confidence,

"I was afraid you'd think so..."

I grabbed the branch beneath us and lowered myself as far as I could, and ten let go, falling the last five to six feet and landing in a crouch before falling to all fours.
Standing I looked around and then back up to Odin, who I caught in my arms as he dropped down.
Setting him down on the ground, I also felt Jess jump off my shoulders and both looked up at me curiously,

"I know... I agree. We gotta do something bout these guys."

I took my backpack off and pulled out Caydes pokeball, and released him.
After a flash of light, Cayde appeared in a crouch and was growling... he smelt the gunpowder,

"It alright Cayde. We uh, ran into a bit of trouble."

He looked at me and snorted as if he figured as much.
I merely shrugged and reached into my backpack again and pulled out another red bandanna, and tied it around my face, just over the nose so the only part you could see was my eyes,

"I've got a plan."

-

Two hours later, I found myself just above cloud level on the back of a Charizard named Cayde. How'd I get here? Well, the plan was quite simply really.
Back in the jungle, I laid out our goal to the team, Free The Pokémon being held captive by the Greenies.
How was I going to do it? No idea, we didn't even know how deep the base went. But I did know, beside the giant wall and presumably smaller buildings and tunnels boring into the mountain and Granite Cave itself, the rest of the base was uncovered to the sky, and that's where Cayde came in.
Turns out I was correct, looking down off of Caydes back I could see that on the other side of the large walls were several smaller buildings that were all bunched along makeshift roads leading to the Mountain, or Granite Cave. I saw a very impressive man made tunnel, to my surprise driving tanks into it, leading into Granite Cave, so I assumed that was or main way in... but it'd be ridiculous to even try.
Most of the base looked like it was still being built, but it was a testament to human technology that what I was observing was built in such short time, assuming they started construction after the event in Route 103.
Despite that, the giant guns along the walls didn't give off a welcoming vibe, and if watching all those war movies growing up taught me anything, it's that they could very well take down fighter jets, so I wasn't going to risk it on a Charizard.
That however, left us with little few options...
Cayde growled suddenly, as if trying to get my attention and he banked a bit to the right, flying over the main "Courtyard" if you will, and above the mountain,

"Hold on Cayde, we're just trying to scope out- Oh Arceus."

Cayde came out of the cloud layer to reveal what lay on the other side of the peak. There was a massive... hole in the mountain. Going straight down and tons upon tons of layers and floors were circling it's exterior,

"It's massive... the base above ground is nothing compared to this!" Cayde started a slow circle around the giant hole, "It looks like some sort... I don't even know. What do they plane to use that for?"

Cayde grunted nervously and swung his head to the left. I followed his gaze and saw a small little object soaring across the sky. I titled my head and blinked trying to squint, as if that would help me see the object better. It was long, a small trail of smoke behind it and-

"Cayde that's-!"

Cayde was already well aware of the missile. He roared and began a nose dive. I quickly grabbed hold of his neck and flatted myself along his back,

"They can detect us all the way up here!?"

It didn't matter now... we were getting closer and closer, and the multiple weapons surrounding the giant hole began to rotate towards us.
I nearly dropped my jaw from my mouth, the weapons were the color of the mountain, and blended in perfectly when not moving... this base had to have been here well before the event on Route 103.
Cayde suddenly banked left in a twirl and there was a loud whoosh.
I turned my head, and just saw a blurry smoke trail passing through the space we occupied only a few seconds previously, my heart sank when I realized that could've been our doom.
I looked back forward and saw tiny little men, from the distance we were at, running across the ramparts of the giant hole. They all began taking up positions or weapons that were mounted on tripods,

"Cayde..."

I looked forward at Cayde, and my heart sank even further, if it could've. His gaze was dark, it wasn't the angry glare with a slight smile I was used to seeing. He had no expression at all, the only emotions displayed in his eyes... his pupils were nearly non-existent, and his Iris's were focused... he looked extremely determined.
I looked back up towards all the soldiers manning weapons along the top of the ramparts, now exceedingly close,

"Cayde! Cayde!"

I even tried pulling on his neck, but Cayde was locked into some sort of trance. I held onto his neck as I saw the soldiers take aim and yelled as loud as I could. Out of fear, or crazy adrenaline, I was unsure.
Cayde suddenly outstretched his wings and we were jetted upwards for a split second.
As if Cayde knew, the first burst from all the soldiers weapons went just beneath us.
Without a seconds hesitation, Cayde collapsed his wings inward around me and him, and we plummeted in a spiral.
The scream I thought must've been extremely loud, was drowned out by the torrent of winds rushing past us, and behind that the subtle sound of gunfire.
I don't know how many times we spun downwards, but it was enough that when Cayde outstretched his wings the world was still spinning around me, and all I could tell was we were somewhere in the hole.
Cayde roared and we crashed into the side of the hole. I thought we were done for, but as the world stopped spinning, I saw Cayde was gripping the wall with his claws on hands and feet, his back arched and roaring at some soldiers taking up firing positions along one of the many levels we were just soaring past a moment ago.
Cayde let loose a stream of fire and then jumped downwards again, the sound of bullets banging against metal above us.
I again was forced to grab onto Caydes neck as we plummeted even deeper into the hole.
Cayde preformed two more evasive maneuvers with expert ease against the firing soldiers, and it struck me on another dive, just how easily, and exact he was preforming them... it was as if he knew exactly what to do.
The thought was jerked out of my head as Cayde spun rather suddenly, and quite literally tossed me off his back.
I yelled in fear as I began to free fall, despite how deep we were, as I plummeted downwards, my arms flailing, I could only just begin to see the ground.
After quite the struggle, I held my legs and arms out fully extended, like a skydiver and was able to control my fall so I wasn't flailing around.
I looked to my left and saw Cayde flying next to me. His face still that gaze of extreme focus, he looked at me, only breaking that gaze briefly to give me a half hearted smile and a nod that basically said,

"You know what to do."

I shook my head towards him, trying to let him know that I had absolutely no idea what was going on.
He didn't seemed to notice though, as he spread his wings and lofted a bit above me.
I couldn't turn my head far enough without throwing of my form to see where he was going, but I suddenly felt defenseless.
After an un-Nerving amount of time passed, I felt a sudden tight grip around my shoulders.
My head darting to the left and right, I saw the familiar sight of a Charizards feet. At least he came back for me.
That sudden thought of joy was erased and replaced with pain as I was jerked to a stop, my legs falling below my body as I was pulled upwards and tossed to a nearby helipad, sticking out from the side of the holes wall. I hit the pad rather roughly, bounced and rolled twice before stopping on my face,

"What... the... f-AH!?"

As I pushed myself up, I got a rifle barrel in the face, an angry looking soldier pointing it at me.
I'm a whoosh of wind, I heard his scream slowly fade below us, and where he was standing was replaced by Cayde.

"Did you just Spartan kick that guy?"

Cayde tossed me a confused look before he started walking towards the only way off the helipad, a large door in the wall,

"No? Never seen that movie...? Why am I so calm!? Have I gotten used to situations like this?"

To none of my questions Cayde answered. He just made his way towards the door, and stopped in front of it, looking down at a keypad then back to me.
I was busy retying my bandanna over my face and re-adjusting my hat, which surprisingly didn't fly off,

"What? I don't know the code."

Caydes gaze suddenly changed, and he looked around confused, as if he didn't know where he was,

"Cayde man what are we doing- oh my god Cayde!"

I just realized that Cayde was bleeding from several places along his torso and had a good couple holes in his wings, he looked very similar to when I first met him,

"How can you just shake these off!?" I felt his torso and then sighed, "Right, scales... still man, your wings are kinda beat up." I took a few steps back to the helipad and looked up, "And how did you know how the guards would react, like exactly how? It's like you've-" The words froze in my mouth, and then came out in a whisper, "It's like you've done this before..."