-Soledad-

I made my way around the Arbiter Corp campsite. I used boulders for cover, making sure to run to each one as fast as I could and as silent as I could. This wasn't like other situations; I wasn't sneaking my way through a garden being patrolled by mortal men. I didn't know why the Arbiter guards had red eyes, or how they were controlling the fusions by their sides or Lugia up in the air.

What I did remember was that Katherine Verdana had originally commanded the fusions down in Enfer City through Kruismara, who, somehow, was able to "tell" them what to do. I never put much thought into how, and neither did anyone else. Could you blame anyone for not considering it proper dinner conversation? But, these men seemed to be controlling the fusions individually. Even Verdana would've been eaten alive if she had confronted her "grand" fusion army without Kruismara there to tell them not to deep-fry her.

Were these men controlling those fusions the same way Kruismara did? That just brought up the old, unanswered question of how – exactly – Kruismara always had control over the fusions, able to guide them even if they were continents apart.

I remember my talks with May after the Attack on Enfer City. She explained how Verdana had used an altered sample of the Virus to transform herself into a fusion during their final encounter, both to reflect the monster she always wanted to be and to be able to stand by her fusions without conflict. Did that have something to do with this? That would explain the guards' red eyes – a sign of the Chimera Virus running through their bloodstreams – but that didn't answer the original question of how Kruismara controlled the fusions, or how these fusion-human hybrids were doing the same.

Plus, how had Verdana even controlled Kruismara in the first place, before she had become part fusion?

I calmed my mind before I got lost in my thoughts and focused on the task at hand. This campsite would probably have some answers, even if just for what they had planned for fusion Lugia. Because of this, I knew I shouldn't ready my rifle, run out, and start being all trigger-happy, despite how much my desire for revenge tried to persuade me to do so. There weren't a lot of guards here, but that didn't mean unscathed victory was guaranteed – definitely with Lugia still circling from above.

Still silent, I made my way from boulder to boulder, making sure my armored boots stepped on flat ground. I didn't want to kick a pebble or something, grab the attention of a fusion's enhanced hearing and wake up the whole coop. Toward the other side of the campsite was what looked like some sort of portable, one-story office. Its windows were tinted from the night, but even through those I could see the glow of monitors on the inside. If I was looking for answers, whatever database these guys brought would probably be the best place to start.

I stopped when I reached the back of the office. Tapping the side of my helmet, I turned on my visor's thermal vision and scanned it. I couldn't see the heat signatures of any humans or fusions inside. I looked through one of the windows. Beyond the glow of the computer monitors within the pitch-black room, it seemed empty. I grabbed a knife from my belt and used it to loosen the window. It only took a few seconds; a cheap design, proving that Arbiter Corp wasn't as strict on maintaining security as they should've been.

Opening the window, I climbed my way inside and shut it behind me just as quietly. I looked around again. Still nothing. I could only see the heat signatures of two guards that stood outside of the office's main door, oblivious to my presence. I stayed low and made my way to the computer.

Their files weren't hard to get into. Despite the patrols, this campsite hadn't seemed to expect any cases of infiltration, certain that any groups who tried to sneak in would surely catch the attention of at least one fusion, and any solo workers would lack the skills required to make it this far. Arbiter Corp had obviously grown to underestimate the military, though the fact that the military was slowly losing the battle with the fusion armies probably justified Arbiter Corp's arrogance.

With the amount of information stored on the files, I knew it wasn't safe to try to sort it out in the middle of a campsite filled with fusions. I reached into a small pocket on my belt and pulled out an empty USB flash drive, inserting it into the computer and copying all the files onto it. When it was done, I disconnected the flash drive and slipped it back into my pocket. I would have to review the information later – and hopefully get some of these questions answered, including a bigger understanding on how exactly Arbiter Corp was organized.

That would make my job easier when it came to taking them out.

I heard a click, as if a door had just been opened. I glanced at the office's main door, which swayed ajar, bringing in the cool breeze from outside. I hissed a curse, looked around, and dove for a corner, hugging the wall on the other side. I closed my eyes at the sound of footsteps. As much as that desire for revenge returned, rekindling the urge to jump out and start shooting as many fusions and guards as I could, I suppressed it, knowing that doing so now would be too risky.

My eyes opened when I heard another click. With a look around the corner, I saw that the door had been closed again. More importantly, the entire office was empty – as if someone had just opened the door, looked in to see nothing, and then left to return to his or her business.

I stepped out from behind the corner and sighed. After composing myself, I turned to exit out the same window I came in from.

Then, I paused. To the side of the window, the dark-colored paint on the wall seemed to…move. It came closer to me, its colors changing to blend in with the floor and whatever other objects it covered. But, its movement alone broke the stealth of its camouflage.

As if noticing my awareness, the figure turned off its camouflage. It was a fusion, its red eyes glowing, its reptilian countenance a hideous mixture of various pokemon. Humanoid in stature, it stepped toward me on clawed feet, the dark colors of its scales appearing glossy in the glow from the computer monitors.

The fact that this fusion had been able to camouflage itself hinted at the existence of kecleon DNA in its blood. Despite that the stripe usually found on a kecleon's stomach always remained visible during its camouflage technique, the type of Chimera Virus used on this fusion had probably been altered to remove that flaw. As with other fusions that had specific abilities, kecleon-based fusions had their own codename.

Rogues.

The rogue bared its teeth at me. Then, it roared and lunged.

I dodged it, its claw scraping against my armored thigh. I grabbed a knife from my belt and jabbed it into the rogue's back. It cried out in pain, and I quickly silenced it with another knife into the head and brain, pinning it to the ground. The door opening and closing earlier now made sense – this rogue must've snuck in camouflaged, tricking me into thinking nothing had come in. Fusions weren't dumb.

In fact, I felt like the stupid one.

I heard voices outside – guards and other fusions brought in from the rogue's prior roar. The door flew open. I hissed a curse as I retrieved my knives from the rogue's corpse and faced the guards piling in, guns pointed at me.

They fired. I rolled behind the corner, almost getting hit in the leg. Grabbing my own rifle from my back, I opened up the bomb slot on its grip, dropped a few of the sphere-shaped bombs into my hand, and threw them past the wall. Then, I ran for the window, bracing myself, and I jumped through it.

Glass hit the ground beside me, the voices of the guards following my trail. I got to my feet and ran as far as I could, reaching the safety of a boulder – and right as the bombs detonated.

The force of the explosion pushed me to the ground, the heat nipping at my skin beneath my armor. My helmet protected my ears, but the proximity to it still made them ring, disorientating me. As the moment calmed down, I shook my head, muttering a curse.

I looked past the boulder. The office was gone, replaced by burning rumble and billows of black smoke. However, it didn't end there, as more guards and fusions approached the site, searching for the culprit of the explosion. One of the fusions – a regular scout – spotted me, as it glared and roared, bringing everyone else to look in my direction. More fusions ran for me.

It looked like there was no running from this. I grabbed two knives from my belt and readied myself for the approaching fusions.

One moved ahead from its buddies, lunging, claws glowing with an attack. I dodged it and stabbed my knives into the sides of its head. I pulled the blades out, letting its lifeless body drop to the ground – and just as another fusion tried to intercept me. With one knife, I stabbed that fusion in the heart, and jabbed my other knife into the forehead of a different one. The ground trembling beneath my feet indicated the presence of a linebacker, and I jumped up before it could slam into me with its shield-like arm. I somersaulted over it, grabbed my handgun from my thigh, and fired a few rounds into its fleshy back. It collapsed forward, and I quickly pivoted to fire more rounds into the chests of a few lashers, stopping their elongated tongues from wrapping around me like whips.

Blood covered me toward the end, dripping off my armor. I looked up from the dead fusions all around me and faced the guards. Their red eyes flashed, as if angered by the deaths of the fusions – their brethren. They aimed their guns, but I took shelter behind a boulder before they could fire. One growled out a command, and I heard footsteps as they charged forward to ambush me.

With my handgun still in my hand, I grabbed a flash bomb from its grip. The guards were too close for a regular bomb, so I tossed the flash one outward, listening to it explode, listening to their groans as it blinded their eyes and deafened their ears. I unhooked my rifle from my back, jumped out from behind the boulder, and fired into the group of guards. They fell beside the fusions, their blood joining the steadily growing pool on the ground.

I dropped to my knees and struggled to regain my breath. The whole campsite was dead, and I was finally alone again-

A roar.

Oh shit. Lugia.

I looked up. Fusion Lugia glared down at me from the sky. It flapped its wings, letting out another roar. It lowered toward the ground, as if preparing to land.

"Leviathan," said a voice. "Stay."

Fusion Lugia snarled, but it followed the command, remaining airborne.

The voice's owner emerged from behind a nearby tent. It was a man, either in his late thirties or early forties. Blond, tousled hair fell into his eyes, in which their irises were colored a dark red like the guards'. Unlike them, though, he wore a long, black trench coat that swayed behind him with every step. The Arbiter Corporation's logo - a white, unbalanced judgement scale within a green circle - was on the side flap. He grinned an arrogant grin when I glanced at it, partially removing the age lines from his face.

Then, that grin died away as he surveyed the scene before him.

"What a waste," he said, nudging the body of a dead guard with his boot. "All these men had just got started on the Hybrid Phase. They hadn't even developed their powers yet, and you have to come in here and screw that up. What a waste. Of flesh, I mean." He looked at me. "You're pretty good with handling those weapons of yours, coming in here and causing all this commotion."

Hybrid Phase? I shook the thought away. Those files I downloaded would probably tell me what that was.

But, first, I had to get out of this alive.

I aimed my rifle at him.

"Touchy, aren't we?" he said, grinning again. "The name's Alistair. I'm one of the heads of the Arbiter Corporation."

My hold on my gun tightened.

Alistair's eyes flickered, as if he had seen my movement. "I take it you got something against what we're doing here? Well, good. It gives me an even greater reason to stay. You see, I can easily just call down the Leviathan to swallow you up in one gulp, but since you took out my men and fusions, I figured it might be a little more interesting to see how you would do against the likes of an actual hybrid." He checked his watch. "I got…ten minutes before my ride gets here. Let's see what you really got."

As soon as he took a step forward, I fired my rifle.

His body moved with lightning speed, dodging every bullet. He practically appeared as a mist, colored black from the hue of his trench coat, leaving me to nearly drop my gun from shock. Just as fast as he had done that, he was walking normal again, approaching me with that same sadistic grin on his face, red eyes glowing. He laughed. "You're gonna have to try better than that."

I growled, dropped my rifle, and grabbed two knives from my belt. I ran toward him, feigning a lunge toward the left so I could open up his right side. But, he seemed to catch on as soon as I moved, as he grabbed my arms, twisted them until I dropped the knives, and then kneed me in the stomach. I groaned, but managed to regain myself, going for a punch in his jaw. He dodged that, too, his body shifting into that black-colored mist – multiple pokemon evasion attacks all gathered up into a single ability.

Before I could even figure out where he was, he smirked, clenched his hand into a fist, and uppercut me. My head flew back. I heard something click, and the night's cold air washed over the skin on my face like a wave. I hit the ground, hearing my helmet land farther away. I swallowed hard and tried to sit forward. My hair ran down my back; the clip that held it up had also been broken from the punch.

Alistair towered over me. "Ah, so the secret identity of our masked hero is finally revealed." He frowned. "Hmm. Now that I think about it, you do look kind of familiar." His eyes flashed with recognition. "Oh! Now I remember! Weren't you a famous coordinator a long time ago? Like, one of the biggies?"

I glared at him, spitting out blood, climbing to a kneel.

"Yeah!" he said. "And you were married, weren't you? To that other famous coordinator? Wait, didn't he die down in Enfer City? I remember hearing it mentioned. What was his name…? Charley? Harlan? Oh wait, that's right! Harley-"

"Don't you fucking dare say his name!" I hissed.

I lunged forward to punch Alistair again. He intercepted it, grabbing my fist, eyeing me as I struggled against his grip.

"Look at you," he said. "All that anger in your eyes. You should be careful. Anger can get you killed."

I snarled. "You damn bastard!"

"Language, my dear. Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

Alistair looked up. The sounds of helicopter blades grew louder from the distance. He met my eyes again, still holding my fist.

"My ride's here." He smiled. "It was fun, but you're not as tough as I thought you'd be. Maybe I just need to hire tougher employees."

He let go of my fist and kicked me in the side, knocking me down to the ground again.

"Leviathan," he called out. "Come. You can finish what I started."

Fusion Lugia roared from above. As a helicopter touched ground on the far side of the camp, Alistair climbed into it, motioned to the pilot, and waved at me playfully. The helicopter took off into the air, heading toward the horizon, leaving me to switch my glare to fusion Lugia – "Leviathan" – as it landed before me, growling.

I rolled to the side before its clawed tail impaled me. I returned to my feet, trying my best to ignore the explosion of pain in my stomach and the ache in my jaw. If those punches had been from a mortal, I would've been able to walk them off, but the fact that they came from a person whose DNA had been successfully combined with that of a fusion's, my faintness was expected.

I grabbed my helmet and my rifle from the ground. With the Leviathan right behind me, I didn't have time to grab any of the knives I had dropped, so I just released my charizard, climbed onto his back, and ordered him to take off. When he saw what was chasing us, he didn't hesitate at all.

The Leviathan flew into the air with us, stretching its long neck to grab Charizard with its teeth. He dodged it, veering to the left, the Leviathan growling with annoyance. It lunged again. Charizard climbed higher into the air, his tail almost brushing the feathers at the base of the legendary's head, proving the closeness. When the Leviathan opened its mouth to fire a beam in our direction, Charizard dipped downward, turning up right when we would've crashed into the tops of the trees below.

I looked behind me. The legendary followed, reaching our speed with ease. I could feel Charizard whimper beneath me, exhausted and nervous. I struggled to come up with a plan.

"Charizard!" I said. "Veer left! Try to get it to parallel you!"

Charizard grunted in response. He swerved to the side, and the Leviathan quickened its speed, coming up to our right.

At that, I stood up on Charizard's back, and I leaped over onto the Leviathan's. It screeched, turning, trying to throw me off. I grabbed my rifle, dropped a bomb from its grip into my hand, and stuck it underneath one of the beast's spine flaps. Then, I motioned to Charizard. I jumped back over to him, and we swerved farther to the left.

The bomb detonated. With a cry of pain, the Leviathan was smothered in a cloud of black smoke. It fell out of it, heading toward the ground, where it crashed into the forest below, unmoving.

Charizard flew forward, and I lost complete sight of the Leviathan only seconds later.

I gazed into the one-way visor of my helmet, seeing myself reflected on its surface.

After escaping the Leviathan, Charizard and I headed toward the eastern side of Hoenn. I knew that going back to that campsite wouldn't change anything; Alistair would be long gone now.

And he knew who I really was.

I gritted my teeth, but I knew there wasn't much I could do about it.

I sighed and reached into my pocket, pulling out the USB flash drive. I opened up a slot in the back of my helmet and inserted the drive, copying all of the information into the database stored within. When it was done, I pulled the drive out, contemplating on what to do with it now. Since I had the information saved in my helmet, I didn't need it anymore.

But…someone else did.

I frowned and looked out toward the horizon. I could see a large, black cloud building up, flashing with lightning and heading in our direction. It would rain soon.

My charizard grunted, walking up to my side. His eyes followed me. He could tell something bothered me.

Then I hope I can still trust you, too.

I stood up and looked at Charizard, the drive in my hand.

"Let's head toward Lilycove."