"Speech" human speech

"Speech" Pokemon speech

"Speech" Pokemon speech to humans.

"SPEECH" Pokedex speech.

'Speech' telepathic speech

This manner of speech to signify a thought-process. Does it work yet? Does it? Does it? I think it does…

~0~

Lucy AKA Gardevoir lvl 38 - significant moves: teleport, confusion, magical leaf and reflect. Light screen, Psychic

Fenrir AKA Nidorino, lvl 37- significant moves: peck, poison sting, double kick and horn attack.

Cinder AKA Ninetales, lvl 37- significant moves: ember, confuse ray, quick attack and will-o-wisp. Flamethrower.

Aerodactyl, lvl 15 – significant moves: bite, wing attack, supersonic.

Eevee, lvl 15 - significant moves: tackle, sand attack.

~0~

"So Lucy? Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure Cinder, go ahead."

"Have you ever felt like there was something…off…with our trainer?"

"Depends on the meaning of the word 'off'. There are many things that set him apart from the other humans, but we went over that already. Young troubled soldier in a strange land, remember?"

"Yeah I heard that. I was just thinking…he does show an impressive amount of zero interest in his fellow humans."

"What do his fellow humans have to do with him?"

- Spartan Pokemon-unit bantering, part 1

Blackness usually came from a powerful blow on the head, either causing a brief knock-out or even unconsciousness. However this time was completely different; the deep spinning movements in the water that caused his body to lose all sense of what was up and what was down were combining with the intense flaring lights of the Forerunner installation in such a way that he could simply not see anymore. His vision was black and with his ruptured suit he could feel the cold sting of the ocean as well as the searing heat of the blue beam without any difficulty.

But even with the complete disorientation and clashing temperature effects on his body, his mind was still racing as fast as he could possibly make it. The strange atmospheric disruption that was completely obliterating Fuchsia City was starting to boil the upper layers of the sea. His Pokemon had to get to safety, but he could not warn them without turning his own scalp into an omelet. Then again; his team had the strange tendency to completely warp the world like he knew it. If Lucy had done the thing that he knew she could do –stop anything ever with a gesture of her arms- then she would have found a way to either keep them save above the freezing ocean or keep them breathing underneath it.

But that was his own problem now: he could not hold his breath for much longer; his longs were already starting to ache and a faint ticklish feeling in his head indicated a lack of oxygen that would –if not checked- compromise him.

And as the black world kept spinning and spinning around, he tried to keep his limbs tucked securely to his body and continue exhaling as steady amount of air. If he kept the full amount of air in his lungs, he would float to the surface and turn into a hard-boiled egg there.

If he breathed out too much air, he would simply choke to death. Hmmm…decisions decisions…

It was becoming gradually harder to keep his mind focused and clear with the ever increasing lack of oxygen. But it was also getting gradually easier to calm his body down and prevent his limbs from shooting out and turning his swimming party into a mad dash to see how many circles he could spin before losing his mind –and stomach contents. Soon he should be able to breach the surface of the water and breathe sweet air again. Soon, but not now.

And as he thought about that, the blue glare started to dissipate and the warming of the water stopped. It appeared that whatever had been happening was happening a lot less now. Curious. But the brilliant flare of light had made place for multiple pieces of shrapnel per second to land in the air –the shockwave had had possessed enough power to blast every piece of rock and metal straight into the ocean and other surrounding areas.

So when the meter-wide pieces of white-hot metal were hitting the water, he made the well-thought plan of moving.

Soon –and now. He extended his legs and –after briefly checking that he was turning to the right direction, up instead of down- started swimming towards the surface. His legs felt heavy and his head was aching and spinning from the lack of air. His lungs were practically ready to cave in to the pressure, but he forced his limbs to keep their frantic movements up until he had reached the surface.

Not enough oxygen…almost enough to induce panic. But that would only serve to doom him; it would speed up the oxygen usage in his cells, causing his air-deprived mania to increase. And that was not positive.

He could see normal sunlight now –sweet, normal sunlight. Reaching that would be an excellent accomplishment- covenant and Spartans alike needed to breathe. It was only natural.

A pair of tentacles wrapped around his legs and his movements were stopped cold –very cold, considering his current whereabouts.

He instantly grabbed his knife, tore it out of its holster and ducked towards his knees to reach whatever Pokemon had gotten the stupid idea to try and make a meal out of a Spartan.

His knife tore through the tentacle with ease, before his water-clogged eyes noticed a dark shape underneath him. Medium-sized and close enough. So easy. He slashed at the shape and his knife met resistance, which did not hold out for long against UNSC steel. The blade sank deep in the attacking creature and it writhed with pain, creating an ever increasing cloud of blood with its trashing movements.

It just had to be grateful that he had important plans…getting air in his lungs, for one. But hey! Who was he to stare a given food in the wound? Reaching out to grab one of the cut tentacles, he pulled the creature up and kicked with his legs to propel both of them to the surface. Breathing was becoming very important now and if he did not do it soon, his lungs would burst.

Sunlight…so close…

His head breached the surface and the cold water made way for stinging air as a wild wind blew in his face. Taking ragged breaths and attempting to calm his body down, he stayed in that trancelike state of recovery before he was acclimatized enough to continue.

Which took two seconds.

With the dead Pokemon in one hand and moving many liters of water with the other, he made his way through the freezing sea. A long trail of light-blue smoke was rising in the air like a giant column. At the very top of that trail was a…something.

It looked like the Forerunner Pyramid alright: it had taken off. Like, flying in the air propelled by a heat-generating energy-reactor taking off.

The alien Pyramid was a ship…and it had left the surface to take its refuge in the sky. Why? Why now? What had changed for that thing to suddenly develop wings and become a spaceship? It wasn't really taking the fight to outer space; after the initial and catastrophically takeoff, it was just kind of flying there. Not exactly gaining more height, but also not dropping. Geosynchrous orbit? Could be…but what was it doing there?

He could see familiar shapes residing on the beach; his team had indeed made it alive. Good…that was fortunate.

So a Forerunner installation took the skies only to remain floating up there? What was the point of that? Was it preparing to fire some hyper-advanced form of weaponry down on an unsuspecting civilization or was it simply lifting certain goods off-planet?

He lugged the new source of food behind him and he slowly felt his body rise out of the water, feeling more and more wind pelt his freezing skin. The sand was feeling quite nice though.

'Math! You made it!' Cinder's voice echoed through his almost oxygen-deprived mind. 'Are you okay? Are you wounded?'

Almost simultaneously Lucy started talking. 'Master! You survived, thank the maker! Are you hurt?'

Their concern was…taxing on his mind. Why couldn't they simply wait on their turns before bombarding his head with questions? He was still pumping air around his brain, so he had no patience or reserves for psychic girls in his head.

What he wanted to say was "I am fine" or something around that line. What actually came out of his mouth, however, was half a liter of ocean and two pieces of seaweed wrapped in a nice package of a nasty cough.

Why was he shivering like that? It wasn't that cold?

The Forerunner ship…it was the pyramid. The pyramid where he recently had been…and it was a ship. He could have…he could have boarded the damn thing and figured out a way to get back to UNSC space. Not only would the delivered piece of technology turn the tide of the war, it would have also spared the planet! What was wrong with him? Why hadn't he seen that before?! Why had he failed in such a critical moment!

Was his mind really that deteriorated that he could no longer make tactical decisions? Or had he simply been too stupid to notice? He had had a chance to end the damn war right there and he had let it slip past him like that! What the fuck was wrong with him?!

His breathing slowly turned irregular and he threw the slain Pokemon on the beach, suddenly feeling too sick to even think about eating. He had messed up royally and it would cost humanity the war…and that would be his fault. He had doomed mankind because he had not controlled his emotions like he should have done! If he had paid even the slightest bit of attention to the Forerunner Pyramid, he would have figured out that it was a ship! He could have flown it to UNSC space!

'Master…please, calm down.' The faint voice of Lucy spoke in his mind, but he ignored her.

He moved past his team on the beach until his feet bumped against a thick piece of rock: one of the remaining ruins of the once beautiful houses. There, he turned around and placed his back to the brick foundation, trying to gain control over his feelings.

He had messed up and that would cost mankind the war…everything that he had tried to do up to now to serve and protect humanity had just been undone by one slipup…how? Just how?

He barely felt his knees buckle and the brick wall sliding against his back as he sank through his legs to the ground. Multiple rocks clattered to the ground, but he paid them no mind. The once-freezing wind now felt numb on his skin and the many noises that his Pokemon were making sounded distant and faint.

How? What should he do now? There had to be a way to board the thing …

Something warm and soft wrapped around his shoulders, gently and softly prying him from the piece of wall that he was leaning against with his back before allowing him to lean back. Simultaneously, sensations of hotness were spreading over his arms and chest as well. What were those things, feeling so fluffy and hot? Was he bleeding? Or had he accidentally sat down in the remains of a chimney? This did not feel like he was on fire.

'Oh Math…I can feel your overwhelming feelings of guilt and self-hatred. It is not your fault! Nobody could have predicted that the enemy structure could also bring you home and besides; who was going to fly it? The evil Pokemon trying to kill your or his personal army?'

The Psychic-type was sharing in his emotions…as twisted and messed up as they were. "I should have found a way…" He stated. It took him a few seconds to realize that the warm sensation spreading across his body was the collective of Cinder's tails; the vixen was utilizing her nine appendages to warm him up and keep him comfortable. Why was she doing that?

'But even if you had beaten all of them…you could have never flown the vehicle. You would have ended up either crashing or stuck in space forever. Now you still have a chance…had you done the WRONG thing, you would have doomed us all.'

And why was Lucy having an excellent point? Couldn't she just keep her thoughts to herself…she was right, but that didn't mean he wanted to hear it.

He slowly turned to the right and saw Cinder sitting next to him, keeping him warm with her main bulk while she was using her tails to prevent him from possibly slipping into hypothermia. The ocean really was cold…and he was already feeling dryer. Weren't the cold and wet bad for Fire-types?

When he looked to his left, he saw the dress-wearing psychic sitting on the ground, mere inches from his own body.

The women had to have had planned this little play…Cinder comforting him with her body and Lucy with her mind? Collaboration. And it worked too: the Psychic was having excellent points while the Vixen was doing a hell of a job in drying him. Since when had he become this: a soldier that had to be taken care of by his team instead of the other way around?

Or was that the principle of teamwork? Allowing your companions to assist?

It was unacceptable for him. Still; he could simply march on to Saffron and activate to Comm relay there. After beating the main hub of Rocket communications, the Forerunner death machines and the most powerful Psychic-type on the planet, of course.

There was still a way to win this thing…he simply needed to continue working his primary objective like had been doing all along. Now that he really thought about it, the idea of boarding the enemy vessel might have been a bit farfetched…the enemy presence was completely unknown and it would be far different from simply boarding a covenant destroyer. He had done that a few times, but he had never boarded a Forerunner ship before. Nobody ever had and had he messed it up, the UNSC would have had to continue on without ever getting warned.

Still…not a single possibility was impossible for a Spartan and he took relative satisfaction in his many deviances of the improbable.

So a minor conclusion of what had happened: Forerunner spire was spaceship, spaceship launched for a reason and leveled Kanto. The thing was…Saffron lay close to the launch-site. If that thing had send those shockwaves throughout the land, the communications disk would be destroyed as well.

The possibility was too frustrating to even think about and he quickly jumped to his feet again, hoping that he had caught a stroke of luck for once.

"We move to Saffron. Now." He barked and didn't pay any attention to the vixen that yelped with surprise as she fell off of him, or Lucy who quickly scrambled backwards to avoid a similar fate.

'S-Saffron? Why n-now?' Cinder stumbled.

"The radar dish. If Saffron was destroyed-"

'Master, did you check the town?'

No, he had not. Why was checking the ruined town important now? "Why?"

'You might want to look around…'

He sighed and reached for his assault rifle. Thanks to some miraculous stroke of actual luck, his two weapons AND all of his ammunition had remained securely attached to his body. Whether they would still work was another problem altogether. Still; he was dry and very much alive. Lethal mistake on the enemy's part.

Moving around the destroyed frame of the house, he stepped into the open with his rifle at the ready. The sight that lay before him was both hugely relieving…as extremely frustrating.

"You have GOT to be kidding me…" He growled and lowered his weapon before stepping closer to the destruction. The entirety of Fuchsia had been obliterated by the shockwaves created by the Forerunner craft…and that was about it. The cascading waves of destruction had cleared a path at least two-hundred meters wide all the way from the Pyramid to the Ocean, but that was it. To his right, the forest with the large Gym/mansion was still intact if somewhat sideways.

To his left, the small building leading up to the remains of the City from the road they had come from was also still intact. That could only mean one thing: the installation had specifically aimed its power and forces towards the city, allowing the rest of Kanto to continue living on. So either the pilot of that ship was pissed at the inhabitants of Fuchsia, or…

…or very pissed at him. Either way, Saffron still had to be intact and more important: his team was also still intact. Speaking of team, where was the rest of said team?

"Belay that last order." He said and turned around. "Saffron can wait. We will clear that mansion and then move towards the launch-site." Stepping towards the remains of the water-Pokemon that had thought it could make a meal out of him, he started thinking about the potential destruction that the UNSC could unleash upon the Covenant of they ever got their hands on such Forerunner tech.

Or the unstoppable genocide that would follow if the Covenant themselves found this planet. If those aliens ever made it to surface of this world, he would have to find a way to destroy the artefacts that lay buried here. After that he would hijack one of the cruisers and…let Lucy and Cinder absolutely break the minds of the commander of said ship, allowing them all to go home with it. In theory at least. Possibilities. So annoying.

He shifted his gaze from the large ocean that had saved his life, before looking back at the dead Pokemon. Or what remained of the remains of it. In the brief moment between him looking away from the body to look at the sea, Aerodactyl had somehow managed to land next to carcass before proceeding to devour half of it with one bite.

And spitting it back out with a disgruntled shriek.

"Bad dinosaur." He growled and moved towards the grey creature. If the carnivorous monster did not like the dead Pokemon, it had to be either poisonous or of the same quality of the MRE's that the UNSC served.

Which meant poisonous all the same.

"Fenrir? Eevee? Report!"

'Nidorino is scavenging the buildings for anything edible and the Eevee is trying to alternate between hiding underneath Lucy's dress and hiding underneath my tails. Lucky for us; she is a girl.'

He shook his head and tried to forget about the strange implications. It did not work. So the Eevee –a girl of all Pokemon- was…what, scared? Shy? Traumatized? Being kept hostage in a small cage with people shooting at and all around you after having just been taken away from possibly a laboratory with experiments was not something that happened all the time.

It had not happened to him, at least. He and his fellow Spartans had received a few days of revalidation before resuming the shooting, after their augmentations all those years ago, so in a way, his scenario was the opposite of the Eevee's. And he was voluntary, she was not. The cage kind of hinted at that.

"How did you even survive that blast? You weren't soaking wet when I saw you."

Cinder did the Pokemon equivalent of snickering before responding. 'Lucy shielded us from most of it, after that we simply hid behind the rock. Fenrir was knocked right into the wet when the shockwave hit us.'

So Lucy had the power to shield herself and multiple other creatures from a Forerunner-ship generated shockwave? That was actually a bit impressive.

"Tell them to rendezvous on my position. We will assault the mansion in five."

'There are six of us, master.'

"Do it."

He sighed and waited for the first indication that his team had managed to calm themselves before moving to his position. It did not work out that well.

'Attack? As in fight? But I am hungry!'

"Find something to eat."

'Do you have any idea h-how taxing such cold water is on my internal fire? I can barely move!'

"You can talk."

'Different t-thing!'i

Why was she stuttering like that anyway? She had never been the type to feel insecure about things –scratch that, her Ninetales form was not the type to feel insecure about things. So why the stutter?

"We won't waste time with food."

'But master, the Eevee is hungry too…as am I.'

So Cinder, Fenrir and Lucy were all hungry. Small scared and brown over there was also craving for food and Aerodactyl…was gnawing on walls. Great.

"Fine. Half an hour of dinner then attack. Copy?"

'Copy.'

'Copy?'

He shook his head and started searching the area for a large piece of wood that might be useful for his coming plans. As a Spartan, he possessed many different kinds of survival techniques and he would not have a hard time finding anything edible. It had been days since he had eaten or drank anything and the prospect of charging the enemy base with enough nutrients in his body to keep on fighting for multiple days at an end was more attractive than the prospect of his team fighting on an empty stomach and getting shot for their troubles.\

And there was a large piece of wood that he could utilize. "Cinder: get a fire started and tell Fenrir to get back here. Lucy: tell the 'baby' to behave normally and join the rest of us on the ground. After that you can place two flat stones in the fire; we'll cook on them."

Eevee inhaled sharply as to express her shock and she was about to drop her head, when he took notice of Lucy looking down at her. She had misinterpreted the meaning of his words. "Other baby…"

Now she was looking at the Aerodactyl, while the small Eevee suddenly living up again as she realized that he had not been talking about her. So even that little thing could understand human speech.

He shook his head at the disorganized work of his team and started cutting the piece of wood with his combat knife into the right shape. From what he had gathered, the ocean was filled to the brim with life. Even though the jellyfish-resembling SOB had not been particularly tasty, there were bound to be other fish in the ocean. And he planned to get a big one. How did you kill big things? You shoot them.

Sadly enough it was not viable to shoot things in the water; unless he unloaded an entire clip in the hopes of nailing something, the reflection and light would play so much havoc with his eyes that he might as well start on shooting the houses for all the food-delivering good that it did.

So instead of wasting munitions on reflections in the water, he would resort to the next major way of killing big things: stabbing them to death. And seeing as he did not want to lose his one weapon that would never run out of ammunition, he would want to have a spear. It did come with the same light-bending troubles, but he could always improvise.

Also, salt water was bad for a bullet-wound.

He could hear the familiar rustling noises of the bulky Nidorino walking and concluded that his team was once again united. But he did not yet smell smoke, so Cinder was either out gathering sticks or she had thought of someone else to do it for her.

The Pokemon on his team really were a bunch of odd creatures. Lucy was floating –or was she standing? - next to Aerodactyl as the dinosaur was gazing over the ocean. Eevee was sitting in a small corner next to the remains of a house with her ears over her eyes and Cinder…was actually working together with Fenrir to create a bonfire. Good enough, he supposed.

Moving towards the edge of the water with his newly-created spear, he briefly pondered the possibility of sharks living in the water, before concluding that those might be nutritious too.

And with his most recent wound, he would be liable to attract at least ONE shark-reminiscent thing that they could eat. Well…that HE could eat at least. He had virtually no idea whether Lucy and Eevee ate meat or not. The Fire-type was carnivorous, seeing as she was a vixen.

Ignoring the fact that she spewed fire and had nine tails and communicated with her mind, of course.

All he needed to do now was get in the water and start luring the food. If that was to mean start bleeding, then so be it. Moving deeper and deeper into the freezing ocean, he stopped when he was standing chest-deep in the water and slowly crouched, position his body in such a way that is arm with the spear was still above the surface but the rest underneath it.

The water was clear, but it also hurt his eyes and he could not stay too long in such a position without compromising himself. There were small red fish everywhere, but not a single creature large enough to feed his team completely. He hoped that Lucy and Cinder had gotten that fire working, otherwise he would have to improvise himself.

A minute went by without him spotting anything, then two and eventually four. It was then, just as he was about to head back to the shore, when he spotted something that would be edible for anyone. It was a large, orange fish-like Pokemon with dark stripes on the back and a single, large horn on its head that could easily match that of Fenrir's.

It would have to suffice. He waited carefully until the creature was close enough for him to strike –which was relatively easy, considering that it was actively seeking him out for whatever purpose it had in mind- and struck with his spear. His powerful muscles and lightning-fast reaction speed made the thrust unavoidable and the wooden shaft sank deep into the fish' flesh, causing it to thrash and flop around. It was very strong for a creature no longer than five feet, but it was no match for him. The spear was preventing it from fleeing and caused bloodloss that would eventually tire it out.

That horn might have been dangerous for indigenous predators, but for him it was an opportunity to reach out and grab the Pokemon. Its agony-induced spasms were straining the spear to a breaking point and if he did not kill the creature soon, it would break free and possibly swim off. And he could not afford to return empty-handed.

With one hand he grabbed a hold off the creature's horn and he prepared to deliver a lethal thrust with his knife when he encountered a problem that forced him to let go of the appendage.

Apparently, these creatures did not possess horns but power drills.

The spike on the head started spinning with ever increasing speed even underwater and with that move in action, it started resisting even more. Would this world ever cease to surprise him?

He exhaled the remaining air in his lungs and sank even deeper into the chilling water, avoiding the horn drill and preparing to slash at it with his combat knife. The fish broke free of the shaft-

-and he sank his ten-inches of stainless steel into its neck, immediately ending its life. Next time he was going to eat a very big fish, he would make sure to stab it in the neck at the very first opportunity that presented itself.

Although that would look rather weird in the next canteen he would find himself in…also, oxygen. That was important and seeing as he was about to run out of it, he would better swim to the surface. Even though that was easier said than done, considering the very large prey he had captured, he still managed to breach the surface before his lungs collapsed on themselves.

He took a few deep breaths and started for the surface, but he stopped when the weight in his hand was suddenly becoming lighter and lighter to the point of total weightlessness.

Turning to look at his about-to-be-yoinked prey, he noticed the familiar green aura surrounding it and realized that Lucy must be trying to help him out by using her telekinetic abilities. His team was slowly getting used to aiding each other without being asked to do so: good, team cohesion like that would serve to save their lives sooner or later.

The large, dead fish floated over the surface of the water for a few seconds, before it picked up speed and started sailing towards the beach.

That really was a useful ability.

~0~

The strange Human swam back to the beach all on his own and moved towards the large, warm fire. He had been submerged for over a minute and she had started to fear for his life. When asking his other Pokemon about the apparent drowning, they simply stated that they knew that he was fine. The pretty Ninetales –who called herself Cinder- and the elegant Pokemon that she did not recognize –who called herself Lucy- were both very capable psychic's. They were able to read the minds of all the creatures around them and Lucy could even feel their emotions without thinking about it!

But still, they were rather intimidating and she tried to restrict their conversations to the bare necessary things: asking questions and occasionally hiding behind them when things got really scary. Such as the giant Aerodactyl that flew all over the place, searching for something that she did not know. He had appeared already fearsome to her eyes, but when he had actually turned to look at her –and thus shifting his complete attention towards her- she had truly felt more scared than she had ever felt in her life…whatever that was.

She did not remember any of her life before –she had simply woken up in a cage one day, finding all of her memories gone. The very next day had been this one; the morning that the human had arrived to safe her. He was a powerful warrior, but even though he had rescued her she did not trust him. He was too strange for her likings…too alien.

The only person she even remotely trusted was Cinder, the Ninetales. And that was purely because her presence simply felt…good, in a way. It was a strange thing, the way her head worked. But without memories of her previous life, she had no way of judging Pokemon other than the sensations of her senses and sometimes a funny feeling in her mind. But that was the way the world usually worked, so she would bear with it.

The human walked up to them and ignored the Nidorino sitting next to the fire, gnawing on a bit of wood. Aerodactyl was wobbling towards Cinder, looking vaguely interested in something. Whether that was the dead Seaking her new trainer had slain, the big pile of burning wood or one of the still living Pokemon was not clear to her. The only thing that was clear to her was the uncanny interest that lay in the monster's eyes. It seemed honestly baffled by something and that something was lying next to Cinder and her –or it WAS Cinder or her.

She looked around, already feeling scared of what might be going to happen. The Poison-type was sitting a few feet away from them, also keeping a close eye on the approaching reptile. The odd Lucy was sitting on the other side of the fire, looking at the handwork of her trainer with the occasional flinching. Whatever the Human was doing, she was not too happy with it.

The Ninetales raised her head and started glaring at the incoming Pokemon. She had no idea how old that thing was, but he was already as large as Cinder was. Quite possibly even larger than that.

A loud, tearing noise got their attention and all of the assembled Pokemon turned to look at their trainer. He was using a very large weapon to slit open the belly of the fish. It was sickening took at and she quickly averted her gaze, but both Cinder and Fenrir kept watching. Even the Aerodactyl was taken aback by the idea of his food being prepared like that, although that might only be because it was growing ravenous.

And she had no doubts about how tasty she might look to the Pokemon.

"Relax…" Her warm protector said. "Just observe and when you don't like it, you hit him in his maw."

Sure! Hit the monstrous creature that could devour her in a single bite in the place that he used to devour, that would certainly work!

The Rock-type crawled closer and closer to their position, until his left wing was only inches away from Cinder's face and his own head was hovering in front of hers.

She tried her best to keep her cool and bravely stare back at the terrifying presence, but she felt her body quivering with fear and as the Aerodactyl snorted, a thick cloud of air hit her in her face and she instantly recoiled.

But instead of screaming and attacking her like she had expected the thing to do, it merely cocked its head and continued staring at her. Why wasn't it attacking?

"Food." The trainer yelled and threw a large chunk of red meat in the air. The clearly carnivorous flyer instantly turned around and jumped in the air, before grabbing the piece of meat in his jaws and tearing it to pieces. It landed on the ground with its meal hanging from its maw, still tearing and snapping at the meat.

It was a disgusting sight…but it did remind her of her own hunger. But she did not eat meat…or did she? She actually couldn't remember what her favorite meal was. The downside of having no memories, apparently.

Lucy seemed equally dissatisfied with the unclean business. What did her species even eat?

She instinctively recognized every Pokemon around her except for her. So what did that mean? What was up with that?

The Human was done with disemboweling the oversized fish and had piled all the organs on a flat rock, organizing them like it was some sort of morbid hobby of his. Had she had the misfortune of becoming the Pokemon of a mentally damaged trainer? Was he going to abuse them?

"Is he usually that…bloodthirsty?" She asked her fellow mammalian creature.

"He is never bloodthirsty…he just has a …slightly twisted sense of what is necessary and efficient."

"Meaning?"

Cinder laughed. "Meaning that others find him to be a psychotic monster and others find him sexually attractive!"

"Cinder!" Lucy yelled with a shocked voice. "Don't scare that child like that! Nobody finds him a psychotic monster!"

That sort implied that they had run into people –or Pokemon- that did find him sexually attractive. That had to have been awkward for all of them, especially if they were as loyal and protective to their trainer as they seemed to be.

Lucy glided up to them and took her position next to Cinder. "He is not a human from around here."

Ooh! Story time!

"He came from a place far away from…" She continued. The human continued with mutilating the corpse with deadly efficiency, stripping the skin and muscles away from the bones and separating them all. He put the meat on the preheated rocks in the fire and they started sizzling. "He is specially trained to be one of the most lethal warriors of his people."

The Human did indeed move with an elegancy and grace that was absolutely unparalleled by any living creature she had ever seen, including the bad people. "As a chosen warrior –a Soldier to his people- the only thing he has known in his life was fighting. Killing and winning."

It was better to have no memories than such memories. "What did he fight?"

"Monsters." Lucy replied. It sounded ominous; she had often wondered whether the Humans that had kept her captive were monsters or not, but she still knew humans. Monsters…the Aerodactyl was a monster to her. What kind of monsters had the human fought? "Monsters that threatened his people. He and a few others were chosen to be forged into the ultimate warrior…but it came at a price."

She looked at her trainer and paused for a few seconds, looking at his strange actions. He was baking more meat on the slabs of stone and the Aerodactyl was happily digging into the separated organs with more realistic sounds than she wanted to hear.

"What price?" She softly asked the Psychic-type.

"His understanding of everything that does not directly include murdering, maiming and destroying is…limited." Cinder answered. "But that does not Matter! We are all there to help him do the things he can not possibly do."

"Indeed Cinder, we are all there to help him when his own strength is insufficient." Lucy said with a hint of surprise. "Since when do you possess that mentality?"

"Well…" The vixen said and lay down with her head on the ground, using two of her tails as a pillow, "let's just say that…recent actions have changed my own way of perceiving the world."

What did that mean? The Human male had saved her life by jumping in front of an enemy attack…how exactly had that changed the way she saw the world? Or perhaps it wasn't the world she had suddenly seen changed…perhaps it was the way she viewed her trainer now?

She had no idea how Cinder initially viewed her trainer, but the changes could only be positive right?

~0~

Baking meat always stayed the same. Rip of off clean, throw it in the fire and take it out when the colour was different. The problem was that the fish had been in possession of a horn…so it might have been venomous. There was only one Pokemon on his team that worked with poisons and that was Fenrir. The Nidorino was immune to poisons of this world, so the flesh would be edible to him.

And the poison would be detectable. "Fenrir, is this venomous?" He asked the Pokemon, fully knowing that he could not actually talk back to him. Still, the Poison-type loyally walked up to him and devoured the piece of meat that he had offered him. A few seconds later, he barked something and Cinder took it upon her to translate for him. 'It is safe.'

Well…it had better be, seeing as Aerodactyl had already worked his way through quite a lot of the present meat and organs. He still had no idea what Eevee and Lucy ate, but the males of the team seemed to enjoy the Seaking-meat well enough.

"Cinder. Your turn."

'For what? Killing and stripping bare an adult Seaking? Leave that to Electric-types.'

"You wanted dinner." He flatly stated. "Here it is."

'THAT is OUR dinner?' The vixen replied in shock.

"What did you think?"

'That you either had a very bad sense of humour, or were very hungry.'

"You either eat this or go hungry."

'I dine under protest.'

"Whatever."

The Ninetales growled once; a short, sharp sound that he was unfamiliar with. Then she lowered her head and moved towards the meat he had prepared, taking great care to not step in the blood-soaked ground with her golden fur. She really was very proud of her beauty; but he could imagine that a creature with nine tails and a fur that practically shone white and gold would be careful to maintain her appearance.

There were a few things in life that he considered beautiful: a destroyed Covenant ship was beautiful. A field littered with dead Covenant bodies was beautiful. An operation successful in such a way that it crippled the Covenant forces and saved millions of innocent life might even be the most beautiful of all.

But there also a few things tha he considered pretty: a fully-loaded Jackhammer Rocket launcher was pretty. A Shipmaster caught in the sights of his sniper was pretty. And on this world? Well…Lucy's eyes were pretty. And he could officially add Cinder's fur to his list of pretty things as well. But the raw and immense power the juvenile Aerodactyl could turn battles pretty. So it was really a Matter of perspective…and he hated different perspectives.

He offered her some pieces of freshly baked meat before taking a piece for himself. The flesh of the Seaking tasted weird…salty, yet watery. It wasn't as tasteless as he had imagined a fish would be; the taste was rich and left a specific tint in his mouth. But food was food and this was not poisonous: he just hoped that it was also nutritious enough to not pull the valuable nutrients out of his own cells. That was a nasty thing that only a few Earth-native animals did.

'Do you often jump in the water to collect your food?' Ninetales then asked him.

"No."

'You are soaking wet…again.'

"Yes."

'Do you have any idea how annoying it was to help you get dry? It is not like such cold water is good for me!'

"No."

'Well, very annoying. And you went ahead and jumped in that ocean again! Don't expect me to warm you up again…'

He gestured toward the fire with his head, probably infuriating the vixen even more. But on a whole different level: how was the Eevee? He had not expected his prisoners to get wiped out in the cascading shockwaves that leveled the city. He was once again on his own without Intel and he couldn't just experiment about to find out what made the Eevee so special. He would have to ask that to the Pokemon herself.

"What do you eat?" He asked the brown mammal. It faintly resembled a bunny…no, a cross between a fox and a bunny. A little dog? It didn't really Matter.

The fluffy thing looked at him once and quietly retreated to a new position a few inches behind her. What was with her? Was it the same as Cinder had been when she was still an innocent little Pokemon? Was she simply scared or something?

'I think that she is a vegetarian, master. And I would prefer a…herbivorous meal above a carnivorous one.'

So two of his team wanted to eat vegetables? Fine by him. But first they needed to know the plan. "Dinner time is over, listen up."

The Pokemon stopped what they were doing –except for Aerodactyl, who was still ripping into the body of the large fish- and listened to him with rapt attention. They truly learned faster than UNSC marines.

"There is a gym on our right flank. A large building; the leader is there. We will infiltrate the woods, breach and clear the mansion and capture him or her. Then Lucy and Cinder will break his mind and gather Intel on the Alien Ship, possibly the Rocket affiliation."

'So what is the plan?' Cinder then asked while eating. It seemed that she had managed to pull through her initial pickiness. He sighed and reviewed his tactical screenings.

"We move as a team, while Aerodactyl provides aerial support."

'That sounds like fun.'

Did it now? Fighting never sounded fun to him, but it was an essential part of what he did to ensure the survival of mankind. Or was she sarcastic?

'What will happen after we…breach and clear the building?' Lucy asked him.

"We get Intel, move to Saffron and finish this."

'But what about the Psychic Pokemon on the spire?'

"The spire became a ship, Lucy. Pay attention."

He threw the remains of the fish that was inedible –the bones, scales and organs that Aerodactyl had not touched- on the fire and started moving towards the east, where the portion of the forest was still relatively untouched.

Cinder was also done with eating and shoved the remainder towards the Eevee –who took a few tentative bites but left the rest untouched. He hoped that Lucy would be able to pick something edible in the forest or in the mansion –the shop had been closed rather catastrophically.

'But…how can you be sure? If he is still around, we will be in danger! You can't risk going around master!'

"He won't recognize me."

'Your mind has not changed that much since he touched it.'

"He never breached it."

'That is not necessary. Psychics will recognize a mind after only one glance.'

So they would have to be careful around Saffron. Same difference. But different leaders specialized in different types…his team was diverse, so they would still be able to best a team that was only specialized in one type.

"No Matter. We will proceed as planned."

Lucy sighed and his team finished gathering around him. Even the dinosaur and the fluffy mammal seemed to be prepared to move out.

"On my signal, you will commence with the following plan of attack: Cinder, take Fenrir and Eevee and approach from the south. Aerodactyl, attack the building from above-"

The prehistoric animal shrieked and took off. Lucy quickly faced it and did something telepathic, because the eager creature turned back and landed on the ground again. It was showing some serious progress right there; he had told them a plan of action and the dinosaur had followed it. Mind you, it was still after he had told them 'on my signal' but still…progress.

"-after my signal. Lucy, you will go with me. Eevee?" and learn

The brown Pokemon turned to look at him. "This will be a real-time combat situation. You will need to grow to defend yourself. Watch Cinder and Fenrir fight and learn from their skills."

She did not look very happy about it, but at the very least she would follow his orders. It was not often that he gave orders to his Pokemon that they did not want to follow, but his strategic mind was better developed than any of them could ever hope to achieve. With the possible exception with Lucy, whose mind he did not believe was limited the way human ones were.

"The signal will be the first gunshot you hear. Get to your positions!"

There was no way that the inhabitants of the mansion in the woods to the east were unaware of the situation in Fuchsia. The giant shockwave had absolutely leveled the place and after that, they had built a fire to start cooking. Dinner was more important than not creating the suggestion of still active units in the city, but it still left him without certainty of the hostile activity in the Gym.

"Lucy? With me."

'Right behind you master!' Lucy happily said and floated after him. Now that they were alone, this was the time to find out some things that he had been curious after.

Temporarily letting her happiness before a combat situation slide, he thought of the first thing that was calling his attention. "Do you feel gravity?"

If the female was taken aback by his sudden and slightly personal question, she did not show it. 'Gravity? Well…not really. I do not neccesarily have to keep contact with the ground…but I find utilizing my telekinetic abilities to keep myself afloat easier than letting my body being pulled to the ground.'

"You can float and walk?"

'If you prefer those terms master, then yes.'

The term 'master' was slowly becoming more and more obvious to him. She was the only one that called him that –not only in his team but also in his entire life. "Why 'master'?"

'As a Gardevoir-'

A what? Was that her species name? Ralts, Kirlia and Gardevoir? The Pokedex might have been capable of telling him that earlier, but everytime he had been about to use it on her, something had transpired to block that. Like Forerunner death-machines…an artificially created dinosaur and a Forerunner ship blasting the city he was staying in, to name a few things.

'- I am…closely linked to my…trainer. My master. The intimate bond between a Human and a Gardevoir is stronger developed than any other Pokemon and Human could hope to achieve.'

"Not an answer." He replied and continued moving towards the treeline, where his other Pokemon were already taking their positions. Even the prehistoric, juvenile-minded and murderous one.

'My personal opinion would be…that we are so intensely loyal to our human partners that we actually…see them as our masters. We would do anything for our trainers…our humans. We would gladly give our own lives to protect them from harm.'

"Now you sound like a soldier."

She laughed at that. It was strange that two telepathic creatures could sound so intensely different from each other. Cinder sounded more mature, but also more…intense –whereas Lucy sounded pure and tranquil. The Fire-type was sometimes a bit husky, while the Psychic sounded more innocent.

A Ninetales and a Gardevoir…two telepathic ladies who were both equally unique and equally taxing on his own mind.

He spotted Cinder and Fenrir moving with a wide arc around the building, preparing to take their positions at the south. The little Evolution-Pokemon was tripping behind them, doing her best to keep up with them. He had no idea where his air-support was at, but it would probably be scavenging the sky for something he could kill. Ferocious little critter.

"Find anything edible?" He said when the two of them passed a few bushes carrying berries.

'These berries are edible…and filled with energy. It will suffice.'

She seemed to have enough knowledge of the local flora and fauna to keep her alive, but how she got that knowledge in the first place was up for debate. She had never been to Fuchsia before –none of them had been. So how did she know that the berries were edible? She had probably recognized them from somewhere else, but still. He had never seen her kind in this Kanto before –of course there were several dozen Pokemon he had never seen before, but still. It raised the question of where her species usually hid themselves; she had been traveling with him for a few days now and if her kind were even half as smart as Lucy self was, they would have contacted them.

Then again, she had been a lost kid when he had first found her. For all he knew her parents were dead and the species of the Ralts-line were all living in one central area.

'You have been asking me some questions…do you mind if I asked you a few myself?'

Funny. She was a Psychic-type: shouldn't she already know everything about him? No, of course not. If she even got her mind on half of the Intel on him, she would leave him permanently. He was a soldier, a Spartan –and she had a glorified vision of what it meant to be a soldier. Of course it involved the protection of the innocent civilians that would otherwise be at the mercy of the Covenant. But he had fought as many open battles defending civilians as he had completed Black and Special Operations. Section Seven of ONI was unlimited in the twisted missions and operations that they could cook up and more often than not he found himself doing the ethically questionable.

Even though he had not been a Spartan long enough to sacrifice his entire humanity –unlike an even younger Spartan of his unit- he had done and seen so many things that if there were such things as heaven and hell, a third option would have to be built specifically for the Secret-Spartans. A more neutral one.

But he guessed that the third option would simply be living and acting and fighting. So according to religious nutters, he would have already received his divine payment.

He frowned and decided that thinking like religious people was even more taxing on his mind than a dozen telepathic Pokemon could ever be.

"Shoot."

'You are twenty years old now. Your world was destroyed sixteen years ago…you were four by then. How was your world destroyed?'

He felt relieve that she did not pursue the Matter of his age. Almost everyone he knew would find the concept of using child-soldiers in a war sickening. Lucy would most likely reject him if she figured out that he had been a Spartan ever since the UNSC had rescued him from Gallifrey. He would keep his military career a secret –along with his augmentations and past deeds. Nobody would forgive him if they figured out what he was.

"It burned."

'How? How does an entire world burn?'

"The Covenant. They fired their weapons on every continent…until the oceans boiled and the land turned to glass. They burned my world… like Cinder would burn a patch of dirt."

She remained quiet for half a minute, probably taking her time to process what he had told her. The scale of destruction would be too large for anyone not UNSC to process. Seeing as she was such a strong empath, his words probably shocked her deeply. They didn't mean anything to him other than simply that: words. Statistics. If he lingered over every death in his life he might as well lie down and die himself.

'How did you survive?'

"The UNSC. Their soldiers fought the Covenant and gave the population time to evacuate."

'But then?'

"I…believe I made it to a ship and got flown off."

'You do not remember?'

"No."

'I…might be able to help you unlock that memory master. If you would allow me?'

In all honesty, he had no desire to remember what had happened on that day. He had a battle to fight and his team was waiting on his signal. On the other hand…if he refused now, she might grow suspicious of it and press on. He would rather waste time looking at some long-forgotten memory than let his Pokemon find out the truth. Besides; they were almost in position and his other three Pokemon were nowhere to be seen yet.

"Do you want to see what happened?"

'I do not long to see the destruction of an entire world, but I am curious as to the enemies you faced.

Very well. "Go ahead. Don't take more than a minute, we need to stay focused."

'If you remember the reason you wanted to become a soldier, you might fight with more vigor.'

Manipulative little girl. She truly was learning: good.

She closed her eyes and he felt the familiar presence of her mind brushing against his own consciousness. This was usually the point where her voice would echo through his head, telling him what to do and what not to do. It did not happen now though; the pushing presence became stronger and more pronounced until he could either let it slip past, or completely block it out.

'Don't resist it Math…allow it to pass.'

"Stick to that specific memory only."

'You must guide me towards it, lest my powers stride the wrong path.'

He sighed and tried to remember what had transpired that day; the screaming, the shooting and the looming shadows overhead. The ships descending to burn them and the ships descending to save them.

The Covenant had arrived.

'Good. Focus on the memory. It shall become clear-'

The rest of her thoughts were cut off as an image unraveled itself in his mind. It was as if he was staring at a movie, only it felt vague and warm. Like a dream: the twisted nightmares everytime he went to Cryo-sleep were just like this. But…he could still think and act. So either this was a lucid dream, or he was simply staring at a developing memory of what had been.

"Lucy?" He asked and looked around. He was standing in the middle of a few burning buildings, with civilians running everywhere in blind panic. There was smoke in every direction he looked, but he did not smell it. Nothing was there to be smelled, this was just a memory.

'I am here, master.' She said and appeared next to him, looking more hollow and faint than the memories he was looking at.

"Where are we?"

'In your memories. You remembered the events and I pulled them to the surface. You are witnessing your own memories like your mind remembers them.'

"And my body? Is it sleeping?"

'In a trance. Do not worry, I will keep you safe.'

Yes…like that was reassuring. "Then why are you here?"

'I am not. I merely projected my consciousness into your own, to stand beside you as you watch what happened that day.'

"You wanted to see." He said and turned to face the sky. It had turned purple and dark as the Covenant cruisers and destroyers descended. It felt so lifelike: so realistic, he wanted to grab a weapon and take the fight to the Alien bastards. But he had to keep his cool; this was merely a memory and there was nothing he could do but watch the beginning of his legacy.

Lucy's morbid curiosity to the glassing was well-disguised as an attempt to make him remember his past. She had done so in such a compelling way that he was not sure what was actually transpiring: did she merely want to assist him in remembering why he had become a Spartan or was she actually curious to what had happened herself?

The ships were close enough to the ground to activate their gravity lifts and legion after legion of Covenant troops poured out. Wraith tanks, ghosts and banshee flyers were all ready for action and the city was already burning. The aliens screamed for blood and death and even though the UNSC was working valiantly to beat them back, there was no way that they could ever best them.

A small child exited a building, followed by a man and a woman that was carrying a baby. He could not see their faces, but his heart lurched at the sight of the trio and he realized that he was looking at a younger version of his own family. A mother, a father and a younger sibling. No: a younger brother. His own younger brother, no older than six months.

'Your family?'

"Yes."

The father was holding the child by his hand and guided him between the burning buildings. An UNSC sergeant yelled at them to go to the nearest Evac Shuttle, but he in turn attracted the attention of a bunch of scouting Jackels. They opened fire and he returned fire, while the family ran onwards, never looking back. The world shifted and changed and now he was looking at it from within striking distance of the shuttle, it being guarded by at least a dozen soldiers.

They were all yelling and screaming for the family to get on board, but two banshees flew overhead and unleashed their fuel rod cannons. The first bomb killed three soldiers, while the second one ended the life of the mother and the young baby in her arms. The man screamed with agony and despair as he saw what had happened to his beloved wife and child and ran towards her body, which was miraculously still in one piece. He yelled at the youngest kid to get on the shuttle, while Covenant soldiers approached their position from all direction. The man then picked up a fallen carbine and returned fire, taking his place between the soldiers while shouting profanities at the aliens. The marines didn't bother to send him to the shuttle, knowing that the man would never leave now that half his family was dead. The young kid didn't want to leave the father's side, but one of the marines picked him up and dropped him inside of the shuttle.

"Your father will his life to allow you to escape, do not waste his sacrifice!" The trooper yelled and closed the hatch, seeing that the position was about to be overrun by Covenant forces and that all the evacuees would die if the shuttle did not take off.

He did not see what happened to the father and the remaining soldiers, but the approaching carrier and the hundreds of Seraph fighters that swarmed out of it was clear enough. In the distance, several cruisers started glassing the area. The intense forces of the plasma beams were strong enough to nearly send the shuttle crashing, but by sheer skill the pilot managed to keep it flying.

He had seen enough. It was time to assault the mansion and prepare for the finishing battle that would serve as his ticket out of Kanto and into the arms of the UNSC, where he would continue fighting the Covenant.

Breaking the connection with Lucy's mind, he shattered image of the memory and his sight returned to normal; revealing the quiet forest around the Pokemon Gym.

'By the maker…that was…indescribable.' Lucy said and didn't bother to get up again. 'So much death…so much destruction…'

Yes. It is called life, welcome to it. "Come on. We need to keep moving."

'Your parents died…your sibling died and your world burned…how…how did you get through that?'

"I became a Spartan. The UNSC gave me purpose."

'How old was you when you finally became strong enough to get your revenge?'

Revenge? It had never been about revenge. Well, the first two years after training perhaps. Revenge had been a driving motivation for him to keep on struggling and live through the rigorous training, but it had nothing to do with his duty.

"That is classified on a need-to-know basis. Don't ask about it again."

'As you wish…master. What do you feel?'

What did he feel? The past was dead and he had known it ever since. The fact that he did not remember how it had happened did not mean that his world was any less dead in his head. Even if he had just relived it, it did nothing but confirm his dedication to return to the UNSC and keep on fighting until Humanity was safe. "Nothing."

'Absolutely nothing?' Lucy asked, sounding like she was in shock. 'Even with reliving such memories?'

"It had already happened. Feelings are useless and irrelevant." The shock with which Lucy responded was getting on his nerves; he never did know how to work with emotional creatures and if she continued on like that, she might compromise the mission ahead. She was the one who had wanted to see his memories: it was her own curiosity that had caused it.

"You feel what I feel. You tell me what I feel and then tell me what YOU should feel." He said and shrugged. While he prepared his shotgun for the coming operation, the Gardevoir replied.

'You should feel sad and angry... because the monsters took everything you had. You should feel hate: hate for the creatures that messed your life up. And resentful…with me…for making you relive it.' She then added.

"No, I should not." He replied. "Be resentful, that is. And what do you feel?"

'Guilt for making you experience that again…guilt for my own foolish curiosity to the workings of your mind. I just…wanted to understand. To be able to help you better…it kills me that I can not figure you out like I should be able to.'

"Don't feel guilty: gathering Intel is important. Just remember that my memories will be too much for you to handle."

'I shall remember that master…'

"Good. If your emotions are so intimately linked to mine, you should already have been spared the majority of your own feelings."

'You say that like having emotions is a bad thing!'

"Look at yourself and at me. I am focused on the mission. Are you?"

'If you need me to be.'

"Good. Now forget about my past: we are here now, and I am here now."

'And the Alien presence on this planet?'

"A different story."

'Will you speak it later?'

"If you behave nicely, yes. But only if we are still all alive by then."

'Then I had better start protecting you, master!'

"Don't forget your place. Me soldier, you Pokemon. I do the protecting."

'Copy that?'

"Good."

He nodded at her and stood. The mansion was dead ahead and it was time to figure out exactly just what was going on Kanto. He had no idea who was leading the Gym and how that person fought, but it couldn't be much worse than shocking Surge or perfume Erica.

He waited until the mansion appeared all clear and then moved. Like a shadow gliding over the leaves, he moved towards the target building. Even though it was still morning, the forest was dense and dark and it would only serve to keep him hidden. And as he crept through the darkness, he noticed that there still wasn't any response from the people inside of the mansion. He turned around and gestured for the Psychic to join him. She was a very strange little female: fascinated by him and the things that kept him busy, but intelligent enough to not actually say so until the moment had come that her curiosity had bitten her in the ass. He had no idea why she was so interested in him, but according to her the entire species was intensely loyal to their trainers.

And he had no reason to believe that Lucy was compromised in any way. She had been the only one to actually feel anger towards his actions and that was the indicator that she was morally better than him. Only after her evolution had she truly changed again…and he still had difficulty placing her. She still acted as morally high as she had always done, but there were cracks appearing in that wall. She should have been utterly repelled by him: by nature's law, what the human felt the Kirlia/Gardevoir felt. But she acted on the contrary: killing the person who had shot him, taking fascination in genocidal murder and even going as far as to hurt herself with his memories just to get a glance at what made him thick.

She had told him that it was killing her that she did not truly understand him and he got that: her species line was mentally bonded with their trainers and he was literally the WORST possible match for her. But that was what the situation had demanded.

She teleported next to him and he took a look at the door. Or more specifically: doors. The large building had multiple folding doors all positioned next to each other. He could breach one and let the other rooms he was there and that was about it. He knew that his signal had been the first gunshot his team would hear, but that was before his successful charge and arrival at the building without opposition. He needed a new signal to maintain that stealth.

"Lucy," he whispered, "tell the rest to commence the attack. Do it now."

She nodded and closed her eyes for a few moments, before opening them again and confirming that the trio from the south had commenced their attack. She did not get a fit on Aerodactyl though, but that wasn't the most important thing right now.

He cocked his M90 Close Quarters System and kicked the door in –only succeeding in ramming his boot through the thin material and getting stuck there. Feeling annoyed, he ripped his boot free and dove shoulder-first through the door, forcing his entire body through what had to be a paper door and obliterating the folding mechanic.

He rolled over the ground, came up with his Shotgun at the ready and was already prepared to pull the trigger and unleash a blast directly from hell, when he noticed that there was only one person sitting in the room. And that was a girl.

"Greetings." She said. Underneath her black skirt and fishnet-stockings she wore long, black boots. Wrapped around her neck was a long, red scarf and she was wearing her purple hair in a rather rebellious tail. Was that a top she was wearing? What was with the fetish for black leather?

Strangely enough she was sitting in a position reminiscent of Seiza. A martial artist? Or simply a female seeking peace?

"I am Janine. You are here for only one purpose…to seek my father and defeat him."

"Your father?"

"Yes. The Gym-leader of Fuchsia gym. I take it that by now, the city has been destroyed?"

"Yes."

"And the civilians?"

"Alive."

"I see. Unfortunately for us both…I am still loyal to my father. As much as I hate his allegiance to Team Rocket…I still follow his ways."

"Ways?" This lady was talking in a way he liked: clear and cutting to the subject at hand. The implications of what she was saying were clear enough though. Her father was a corrupt Gym Leader and needed to be taken down –and he was the one that needed to do so. Still, she had expressed dislike towards her father, perhaps she could be persuaded to share some information.

"Yes. The way of the Ninja. Me and my Poison-type Pokemon are one and we can not be defeated."

Yes…until he send his Psychic-type in and then she would be totally obliterated. Why did these people always choose for the stupid decisions? "I have a gun. Start talking."

She rose one of her eyebrows in a skeptical manner. He could hear the faint padding of foot traveling over leaves; quadruped, three times. Good; his team was arriving. "Violence cannot bring illumination. You seem like a warrior yourself; do you not realize this?"

Violence was the only thing he knew. "Team Rocket is centered in Saffron…but an alien ship just took off from there. There is more going and Rocket knows what. Either you start talking…or I will make your father talk."

'Wrong idea to threaten the cups…' Lucy told him.

"Why?" He whispered back, keeping his Shotgun on the female as she stood up from her position.

'Fenrir said so…no idea why.'

"You will not hurt my father!" She growled at him and pulled out a Japanese looking knife in one hand and a Poké Ball in the other. "I will give you one chance to leave…ignore that and I will destroy you!"

Yeah, real cute. "I give you half a chance to start talking now." He did not need to raise his voice, his intention was all too clear. She swallowed and seemed to become nervous, but other than that she remained her stance

"What do you want to know then?"

"Alien spire. Psychic Pokemon on top, wearing alien armour. People being brainwashed to become religious: what is going on in Kanto?"

"Team Rocket is led by one man…Giovanni. My father is deeply loyal to him and wishes for me to be so too. He told me that he does not know where Team Rocket gets their orders from, other than Giovanni himself calling the shots."

Now…who was calling the shots behind Giovanni? "And the aliens?"

"We only uncover their ruins by Giovanni's orders. I swear to my blood that I do not know more than that."

"Does your father know more?"

"Insinuate violence against my father one more time and I WILL make you regret it!"

He did not regret. Actions were taken because they were deemed to be the tactically superior ones at the time. If he could have made a better decision at the time of making one, he would do so everytime. As such, regretting past actions was useless and irrelevant. "I am taking the terrorist group down. Your father belongs to Rocket, he goes down too. Run away or die: your choice."

'Master! You cannot kill this one, she is sincere! She does not want to fight but you are forcing her to!'

He did not care for that.

The girl growled with anger. "I have you surrounded." She said in a cold voice, hate sipping off of it. Then she threw two Poké balls in the air and unleashed her team. He could have easily pulled the trigger on her, but shooting innocent but misguided girls was not the answer. According to Lucy at least.

She summoned a Golbat and a large, moth-like Pokemon that seemed equally poisonous.

At that exact moment, the rest of his team chose to enter. Cinder, Fenrir and even Eevee jumped inside of the room via the remaining individual doors and pulled the situation to his quantitative favor again.

"You were saying?" He said.

At that moment, three doors behind Janine opened and six men entered the room, beating them with the numbers game.

'That is cheating!' Ninetales yelled in his mind.

"A telepathic Ninetales…" The girl muttered and pressed the palm of her hand towards her hand. "You honour us with your presence…but this must be done! Do not grudge us for defending what we think is right!"

'Fight if you must,' Cinder spoke once again, apparently addressing all of them, 'but know that we will do so too and we will best you, everytime.'

"That remains to be seen!" One of the men that he could only identify as a real Ninja yelled. They were all garbed in black clothes and masks and wielded several bladed weapons.

"So…still think your numbers are superior?" Janine sneered.

Well duh, of course not; he could count.

"Don't bring a knife to a gunfight." He calmly stated and alternated between the six males and the small female. Elites always brought knifes to gunfights and that causes severe damage to the moral of the UNSC troops. It also caused his moral to change: for the better, seeing as Energy Swords excelled in carving a path through Covenant lines.

"Don't bring a gun to a knife-fight!" One of the 'Ninjas' said. For a master in stealth and discipline, the man was not being very much stealthy.

"A soldier against Shinobi? Who do you think wins…" The daughter said, suddenly sounding less sure of herself.

She truly did not want this violence, it seemed. "Janine…" He said and extended his hand to her, knowing that the same gesture had calmed Lucy down when she was doubting him. "It doesn't have to be this way…join me against Rocket and I promise you that your father will live."

'But cross him…and increase the violence against the Rocket-people dramatically.' Cinder added a threat to his statement.

The young girl held out her own hand for two seconds, seemed doubtful of what to do and eventually retracted it again. "No…" She said and turned around, clenching her fists. "You can't cross Rocket…nor can you cross Koga, the master Ninja and poison-type user. If you survive this…then perhaps I shall reward you by showing you the power of poisonous Pokemon. Make real on your threats warrior!" She concluded and looked over her shoulder to meet his eyes one more time. "If you can survive this…then I shall consider your prowess and chancers against the mightiest organization in Kanto."

A deal forged through violence? Interesting. She did not truly believe that blood would be shed and thought that he would utilize his Pokemon to best the so-called Shinobi's. She had thought right –but only half so.

"Pick your targets…" He whispered and remembered why he had not seen Aerodactyl during the conversation. It had proven that it only listened to first commands…and his first command had been the signal. "Prepare to engage on the original signal."

The Ninja's crept closer to him and unsheathed their blades, knifes and even Bo-sticks.

'We are ready.' Lucy said.

A faint smile crept on his face as the six men prepared to fight him in close-combat. Six of them…trying to fight a Spartan wielding a Shotgun on close-quarters. They might as well have wielded no weapons at all. Cinder, Lucy and Fenrir would be perfectly capable of incapacitating three of them. That meant he got to blast the remaining three to hell.

Cinder inhaled, Fenrir growled and Lucy lifted one of her arms. Eevee cocked her head to the side and got confused, while he looked down the trigger and fired.

One. Two. Three times.

That was all he needed to fire.

"Well, from what I have gathered, the males of every species are always actively seeking a mate. Humans are no different; their males are always thinking with only one thing."

"Don't you mean thinking ABOUT only one thing?"

"Sure…that too. My point is that our trainer is not interested in other members of his species at all. What is up with that?"

"It could be the other way around too. What were you doing with those five naked humans?"

"Scaring the crap out of them, embarrassing them and creating a reputation. I can't go around without being feared by the humans right?"

"You hated that as a kid."

"You hated HIM as a kid."

"I never did!"

- Spartan Pokemon-unit bantering, part 2.