Silver chapter 25 "Playing Cupid"
Akito's POV
I woke up with a groan from lack of sleep but then remembering what happened smiled before looking for Kenichi during our breakfast
"hey Kenichi can I ask a favor" I said walking up to him
"sure" he said a bit distracted
"you see me and Azami have a plan to get those two together" I said pointing at Raiden and Setsuko who were eating together
"okay - WHAT!?" he asked realizing what he had agreed to
"it's nothing bad just try to influence Raiden to agree with me
"who do you think I am" he said
"I know Raiden and Setsuko like each other they're just too nervous to tell each other so they're waiting for the other person to make a move" I said
"Besides I saw what you were reading the other day" I whispered into his ear
"you wouldn't" he said
"not if you help" I said "besides you aren't doing anything wrong we just need you in case our slight push doesn't work" I reassured him
"O-okay" he said "but don't tell anyone" he stuttered
"who knew he'd take it like that" I thought
"what exactly are you blackmailing him with?" Fuyumi asked suspiciously
"he was reading a romance novel earlier" I answered
"he makes it sound like you found his stash or something" he said
"I know and who'd have guessed that a living weapon would be such a romantic" I said laughing a bit
"that might be because why he reacted like that if that got out it'd destroy the reps of every SV in existence" he answered as I walked over to Azami
"I got Kenichi onboard, had to blackmail him though" I whispered
"I got Setsuko to cooperate too I didn't get much though" I looked over at Setsuko who looked a bit less shy than usual
"what's you do?" I asked
"I used Sweet Scent on her" she answered flicking the leaf on her forehead up
"I'll talk to Raiden right now" I said going to get two cups of coffee then taking one over to Raiden
"Raiden" I said making him turn around "Here" I handed him the cup
"thanks" he said
I walked back over to my co-conspirators "did you spike his coffee?" Azami asked
"No we don't need him to go and say something stupid because he's drunk I was just getting his trust for later" I said knowing him
"what?" Azami and Kenichi asked
"you'll see" I said
after another day of trucking east on top of the tanks we came to a stop and set up camp again me and Raiden were pitching a tent and I noticed he kept stealing glances at Setsuko but I pretended not to notice until we were done
I signalled Kenichi to wait "Just ask her out already" I said
"WHAT!?" he said jumping back some "It's not like that I was just-" he started to stutter while his cheeks flushed red
"relax I've seen you staring at her for a while so just ask her if she'd go on a date with you next time we reach a town" I said stealing Fuyumi's idea
"but…" he looked a bit nervous before he turned to me "what if she says no then it'll be awkward" He asked his ears drooping
"don't worry it'll be fine besides you make a cute couple" I reassured him
"how do you know?" he asked
"come here" I said and he leaned closer
"just between the two of us she likes you too" I whispered and saw his ears perk up instantly
"really!" he asked
"yeah It's true so go and ask her here's your chance" I said signalling Azami to stop stalling Setsuko and walk away as Raiden walked up to her and they started talking and after a bit I saw him return with a smile on his face
"she-she said yes!" he said elated
"I told you it would be all right besides when have I lead you wrong" I said patting him on the back
"Thanks" he said happily walking back over to Setsuko as I returned to my own group
"how'd it turn out?" Azami asked looking at the new couple
"You're looking at the lupus company power couple" I answered
"That's great!"
"yeah I feel happy for them" I said
"so do I" Azami said leaning against me
"am I free now?" Kenichi asked
"yeah I put it back into your bag this morning" I answered and he happily ran off to where he had left his bag
"what did you blackmail him with?" She asked
"can't tell you" I answered
"why not?"
"it's a promise between guys and it'd destroy his rep" I said feeling my rings flare up a bit when she put her head on my shoulder again
"do you think we should help them when we get to town too" she asked
"No Raiden actually gets some pretty good ideas and they've been making eyes at each other for months so I don't see how this relationship can be destroyed" I said honestly
"I guess you're right" she said "It's nice to help someone else" she smiled
"don't blow it this time" Fuyumi nagged
"hey Azami would you g-" I was interrupted by shouting close-by and we rushed over to it's origin seeing a familiar sight. It was the same vulpix from a while ago who was with a riolu who had his arms up in surrender while Blaze(Akio) pointed his gun at them I saw Shiro's eyes… eye instantly lock onto me
"can I talk with the Umbreon" he asked
"what do you want with him?" he asked "and why are you using FNK gear"
"Akio" I said "I know him" I said lying partially and he gave me an uncertain look before letting him pass I saw him look surprised before he followed me
"so what are you coming to us for?" I asked as Kenichi came over
"I'll get straight to the point" he said bluntly "there's a large group of enemy soldiers marching towards you"
"we have a Battalion supported by armor so we can deal with them but thanks for the warning" I said dismissively
"you don't understand they have AT weapons" he said
"that means that" Kenichi said
"we're royally screwed" I said
"I also saw a machine gun and at least one half-track" he said
"I'll pass this along to Raiden but who's he"I asked pointing at the riolu
"I'm Cyril" he answered
"that sounds foreign" I said
"he claims he's a human from the Kalos region" Shiro said "and he actually believes it judging from his thoughts"
"but that's crazy"Azami said
"we are the leading authority on crazy" Kenichi added
"Why are you telling us this?" I asked suspiciously
"well…" he said looking ashamed "I wanted to…" I realized what he meant and pet him on the head making the shiny vulpix look up in surprise
"Apology accepted" I said and he went to go tell Raiden who would probably accept his apology as well (he's actually a sucker for little kids)
"You took his apology surprisingly well for someone he tried to kill" the riolu said
"Eh with this kind of lifestyle you kinda don't want regrets you know" I said with a shrug
"huh?" the riolu said with a look of confusion
"well it's not like we're sure to be remembered for long" Azami agreed
"one artillery strike and" I made a that's it motion "there goes our whole existence" I said
"what about your parents? or friends?" he asked
"dead and we don't really know that many people outside our group" I said
"that's so…" he stood there silently "sad" he finished tearing up a bit
"Don't start crying over us" Azami said
"you're not the victim and we don't need pity" I finished as we walked away
"you said it, no regrets" Fuyumi said
"I'll ask her after this next battle when we get to town" I replied
"Now I'll be sure to make it back" I thought happy to have something to look forward to
"good choice" Fuyumi said "It's easier to live for the small picture but don't forget about what you're fightin for"
"what stability, peace ,maybe a family?" I thought "that actually has a nice ring to it
"You're right for what's it's worth they are nice" Fuyumi agreed quietly
"Hey Fuyumi how come you're always saying stuff like you've lived through it?" I asked him
"well… I have but that was a while ago and now I'm this" he said sadly
"are you telling me that you're a ghost?" I asked
"No I'm technically alive I just don't have… well… a body" he said
"One day I'm going to find out what you mean" I said solemnly
"and that is the day I will slap you for everything you've screwed up" he replied in the same tone
"but since we've been together this much I'll tell you" he said without his usual carefree tone "the truth is that I'm pseudo-immortal"
"what?" I asked confused
"I am not completely alive therefore I cannot "die"
We were moving along again today everyone on high alert for the enemy Shiro warned about this time instead of riding the same tank Raiden was standing atop the lead next to Shiro, Cyril and Setsuko (who he was standing in front of protectively) with Blaze manning the top mounted machine gun and I was next to Azami and Satoru on the middle tank which had with the Shizuka brothers and Areal on the rear tank. Suddenly Shiro signalled to the right and the front tank (which was the longer barreled) instantly started to traverse it's turret in that direction then Raiden signalled to change out of the column formation and everyone except for the machine gunners dismounted and spread out taking cover by a ridge I waited with Azami still next to me and after a few minutes the enemy soldiers came into view wearing the standard beige and everyone opened fire and I saw the front line of incoming troops fall as the high caliber machine gun rounds fired and went through cloth and flesh hitting but not killing most of them then after a few seconds they had all taken cover and Raiden signalled us to move forwards the tanks offering us a barrage of close artillery with their HE rounds stopping as we neared them I rushed forwards unsheathing my knife and feeling the familiar feeling of muscle giving way as I plunged it into the chest of an Ambipom before bringing it out and continuing the fight noticing that they had put down smokescreens and I fell back to the line that was advancing along with the tanks Taking cover in a slight ridge alongside Pagan and Nagisa. I looked over for a moment and saw that they had decided to charge and our advance momentarily stopped and I heard a strange sounding gunshot
"what's that?" I asked
"they're goddamn shotguns" Rosary said
"Shit here they are" Nagisa said leaning over and shooting
I looked over again and saw that they were fighting their way to us
Nagisa got up and started to shoot at them taking several down with his assault rifle "what are you doing get down!" Pagan shouted said lucario trying to reach Nagisa before he fell back with a bloody hole in his chest
"AZAMI!" I cried out moving closer to him as Azami worked her way over to me trying not to get hit in the process just as an AT rocket hit a tank in the front where the machine gunner would be and it stopped shooting
"Get me some room" she said leaning over him and trying to stem the bleeding but after a few minutes he stopped reacting to her treatment and she moved back
"DAMMIT!" she shouted moving back as I heard someone else calling for a medic and saw the chaos between us
"I can't get to them" she said tilting her head forward in defeat making her helmet fall over her eyes
"yes you can" I said grabbing her and putting up a barrier at an angle as we ran to where she was needed throughout the battle although eventually I started to accumulate injuries until she finally
" stop" she said
" I'm fine let's keep going" I said but she dragged me down
"no you're not and I'm not going to do anything until you're patched up" she said as she started to tend to my own injuries
"no I'm fine" I said trying to get back up but she pushed me down again and I have up knowing she wouldn't let me go until she was done
" AHH" I shouted when she disinfected a wound
"sorry"she said as she started bandaging them up
"there happy" I said after she had finished
"yes" she replied as I got up
"thanks" I said before I moved closer to and put up another barrier before I rushed forwards again and attacking a soldier then turning and attacking the rest until there were no more then I walked back to where Nagisa had been shot and noticed that pagan was putting a bayonet on Nagisa's gun before driving it into the ground and putting Nagisa's helmet on it. I walked over to Azami who was standing in front of it
"I couldn't save him" she said dully
"It wasn't your fault" I said nuzzling her in order to comfort her
"Hmm" was her only response. I noticed that some of the others were setting up camp nearby indicating that we would stay here for the night I walked over to Raiden who was using a crate as o sort of desk and had several papers on it
"what are those?" I asked
he looked up at me and I saw the seal on the envelope along with his solemn expression
"oh" I said "how many?"
"about 10" he answered
"1 of us for every 15 of them" I calculated. That was actually a good ratio only 10 of us dead- I realized how unaffected I was by the numbers
"but I'll have to get over him dying" I thought remembering Nagisa he had been so nice for the time we'd known each other that I couldn't help but get some measure of friendship from him. Then I was hit by realization I had left Satoru I looked through the crowd but couldn't see him I ran over to Setsuko
"Have you seen Satoru?!" I asked
"he was right next to me during the battle but after that I lost track of him" she said as I continued my search eventually finding him walking around
"Satoru!" I said running over to him
"what's wrong" he asked in confusion
"never mind, new rule! after every battle you find me first thing" I said leading him back to the area where we were eating
"hey Raiden?" I asked
"what?"
"can we sent letters?" I asked
"yeah why you got a hot date or something?" he asked and out of the corner of my eye I could see Azami blushing slightly
"no I just feel like I should let Hikaru and his parents know I'm alive at least since they've been in the dark for years" I said feeling a bit guilty
"yeah If you want I have envelopes" he said passing me one and I took it with a grateful look
"give me the envelope later and I'll have it sent for you" he said still looking a bit depressed
"where are we headed to?" I asked
"a small town about halfway between Heathome and Pastoria on the river if we take control of it we'll cut of the army's advance from the south and thanks to Nikolai getting us help from the AnO they'll start moving down and advancing on Veilstone after taking this town we'll split up half the battalion will go for pastoria which is mostly undefended and we'll cut north and join up with the guys from solaceon to finish capturing the town before going for veilstone from the other side" He explained taking out his map
"why do we need Solaceon?" Kenichi asked
"it has an airfield If we take it we can start bombing Veilstone" he answered
"So from where we are then I guess we'll be in town the day after tomorrow" I asked
"if we don't run into any big groups of resistance" he said "but we won't get any air or artillery support once we get there"
"why not?" Takehiko asked
"they don't want to accidently take out the bridges there since that's why we need the town"
"how well defended is it?" I asked
"we don't know delphi company is sending the lynx to go do some recon" he answered. We finished eating then one by one left to go to sleep me leaving shortly after Raiden. I stopped him before he went to sleep
"you did good" I reassured him and he seemed to cheer up a bit after that I went to my own foxhole which I was sharing with Satoru
"I'll take first watch" I said earning a grateful nod as he settled in for the night. I looked out and after determining that it was peaceful I took out a paper and started to write
"Hiraku
this is Akito and I wanted you to know that we joined up with the SLA and are all fine… well almost all of us we fought against the army today and lost 10 people against a company so it's not that bad I'll write about every week or so to let you know I'm alive at least so let your parents know I'm all right but don't try to sneak off and follow us like last time not to insult you but you just aren't the type that could keep his sanity here
Akito Nakamura" I finished the letter running out of things to write and put it in the envelope before sealing it before realizing that my watch was over and went to sleep dimming my rings and lying down next to Satoru noticing how warm his fur was with some jealousy
…
we spent another day marching towards the town and we we're less than a mile away from it and had dismounted the tanks and spread out giving me a chance to talk to Azami
"so I guess Raiden and Setsuko are officially dating now" I said walking beside her
"yeah lucky them" she said having a slight tone of sadness in her voice
"ask her" Fuyumi nagged for the millionth time
"It's quiet the recon team didn't find anything either" I said on guard
"maybe they're setting up an ambush" she said equally on edge
"or they could've surrendered"I said
"I hope so" she said ,the town was coming into view now it was made up of single story houses and I could faintly see something flying from most of them
"so if we take the town today" I said nervously
"what?" she said cheering up a bit
"would you like to…"my mouth felt unusually dry "go out with me" I said nervously
". . ." she kept walking silently
"I mean if you want to I'm not trying to force you or anything" I stuttered nervously
"yes!" she said almost jumping on top of me and also making me feel relieved
"have I told you that you're kinda cute when you're nervous" she said giggling a bit while also bringing back that memory
"umm" I said not knowing how to answer
"it took you long enough to ask" she said
"what do you mean?" I asked
"nothing you're clueless" she said letting out a sigh
"... maybe it's genetic..." I heard Fuyumi muttering in my mind
We continued to advance closer to the town and I saw with relief that the things flying from the windows were all improvised white flags mostly being tablecloths and sheets we were forced into a road and I saw that most of everyone else was staying close to the tanks and I slowly moved Azami and myself closer to one ignoring the growing amount of people who started cheering us on from their windows I noticed Kenichi was close by so I walked over and asked him
"is there an ambush?"
"no from what I can tell they're genuinely happy we're here" he answered looking distracted
"what's wrong?" I asked
"Nothing it's just I feel like something's coming it's probably just my reflexes though" he said as we walked up moving alongside the column leading tank and I saw an elderly Floatzel walking towards us with his hands raised and about 20 guns pointed at him
"wir kapitulieren" He said looking at Raiden
"Can one of you understand him" Raiden asked as Shiro stepped up followed by Kenichi
"wir übergeben, aber ich frage dies, können Sie bitte zu gehen und das Lager, daß die FNK eingerichtet hat zerstören" he said still with his arms up
"he says that they surrender but he's asking us to go destroy the FNK camp nearby" Shiro translated
"where is it?" Raiden asked
"I don't know how to ask that" Shiro said
"hang on let me remember " Kenichi said with a look of concentration
"wo ist das Lager" he asked
"Es ist etwa eine Meile nördlich von hier, am Ufer des Flusses" the Floatzel answered
"It's about a mile north along the river" the vulpix translated
"Okay then we're going to attack today while we still have the element of surprise" Raiden said making most of the company groan
…
we snuck through the outskirts until we reached the camps seeing two barbed wire fences and beyond that rows of barracks and I decided that I was better off escorting Azami again as we gathered on the bank opposite of it on the river
"So I heard you and the Leafeon are dating" Pagan said moving up with me
"how did you find out?" I asked
"that's our secret" he said
"well what about you" I asked changing the subject
"I've got a girl back home" he said taking out a picture of a lopunny
"really where?" I asked
"Hearthome the safest you can really be" he said with a smile as Azami Rosary and Kenichi came over with us
"speak of the devil" he said pulling out a cigar
"what's he talking about?" Kenichi asked
"take a guess" I told him as we started to wade across (the two lucario wading the rest of us having to swim to Kenichi's disdain)
"we'll have to sneak under the wire" Rosary said as we waded
"don't worry I'll cut it" I said trying to keep my head up
"then what do we do?" Pagan asked
"Well obviously- give me that!" he said ripping the cigar away from Pagan and throwing it into the water "we attack them" we finished crossing the river and I cut the wire while Kenichi held it with psychic then we entered as soon as it fell slack noticing that everyone was going towards the main gate where the rest of the company was attacking
"Raiden really comes through doesn't he" I said
"Let's save that for later"Rosary said breaking down the door to a building while Pagan shot the soldier inside. We walked in and saw that most of the pokemon inside were scientists and had their arms up in surrender
"are there any more soldiers?" I asked one and he started shaking his head
"you watch them we're going upstairs" I said
Pagan looked like he was about to say something when Azami interrupted "Don't say it!" she hissed at him as we climbed the stairs finding that they actually weren't lying and there wasn't anyone in the second floor just several rooms with lab tables in them we walked into one and saw a familiar sight on one of the tables. I unsheathed my knife and swung at it but then was taken by surprise from what happened
"STOP!"" I heard someone shout as my knife bounced harmlessly off a barrier. I looked up and was plunged into further shock seeing the small green legendary floating in front of me
Orion: And cliff-hanger mwahaha
Akito: what do you have against my being happy?
Orion: Actually it's not you this time so enjoy for what it's worth and wait for the shit to hit the fan
Kenichi: I have a bad feeling
Fuyumi: you should it's been foreshadowed since like chapter 12 and I think this ends well for me *smiles*
Orion: Not your backstory