"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.
~0~
Lucy AKA Gardevoir lvl 43 - significant moves: teleport, confusion, magical leaf and reflect. Light screen, Psychic
Fenrir AKA Nidoking, lvl 41 significant moves: peck, poison sting, double kick and horn attack. Poison jab.
Cinder AKA Ninetales, lvl 40- significant moves: ember, confuse ray, quick attack and will-o-wisp. Flamethrower.
Fluffy AKA Aerodactyl, lvl 23 – significant moves: bite, wing attack, supersonic.
Phoenix AKA Eevee, lvl 21 - significant moves: tackle, sand attack.
Havoc AKA Magikarp, lvl 19/20 – significant moves: tackle, splash.
~0~
"Ma'am? Might I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead captain. Lord knows that you have earned…the right to ask questions."
"Ma'am with respect. A mission to salvage a missing Spartan? With a battle-group of seven frigates? And how many of the Two-Sierra's have we taken for this operation?"
"The exact statistics are classified on a need-to-know basis…even for you, captain Wren. But I shall indulge you in some of the sweeter details. We had contact with JCS 1804-8, also known as the AI Jacobs. Before it went offline following the disastrous underpowered slipspace jump, it gave us a large amount of coordinates. It also told us that it expected non-covenant alien presence on the planet's surface, with two-Sierra zero-one-one going down to investigate."
"Non-covenant presence? Could it be Forerunner?"
"We have reasons to suspect so, yes. Thus the nature of the mission. Of course, this information is highly confidential and any and all leaks of it without direct orders to do so shall end with-"
"Termination of the vector. Yes ma'am."
Conversation between Battlegroup Lima assigned captain Wren and Admiral Parangosky, head of ONI. Two hours before departure
The few moments before a major battle were always the worst. Preparations would be done, information would be spread and there wouldn't be anything else left to do but banish the rising feelings of discomfort. So as he was leading his five teammates through the dark basement that had been connected to the caves, many different scenarios and possible outcomes of the fight were raging through his mind. And he was just about to reach a final conclusion, when a female's voice echoed through his head.
'So…Phoenix wanted to know if you have any friends back where you came from. Seeing as she can only serve to confuse you with her native speech, I thought I could pass the message on.'
He pushed the thoughts of exploding Pokemon to the side and looked down at Cinder, who was 'passing the message' on with the worst possible timing. Couldn't she see that he was being anxious over the coming fight? Scratch that; couldn't they see that he was being anxious over the coming fight? And what in their surroundings had possibly given his allies the idea to think "Gee, I wonder whether our commanding officer had any friends?" Where did that even come from?
Nonetheless, Phoenix was a small kid and if he were to expect her to comply with his orders, he would have to set a proper example for her. Basically, setting an example and not messing up.
"I was part of a team." He chose to reply.
And Cinder was quick to answer. 'You know? I think that Phoenix and I can simply work together to string a few questions together.'
"So?"
'So next question: is a team equal to friends?'
The Eevee smiled and pranced on, oblivious to the rising tensions of nearing the end of the civilian basement: a wooden staircase, leading up to a wooden door. What was with these people's desire for wood?
He was approaching the exit with his rifle at the ready, hoping that ammunition would not be scarce in the coming conflict. "We were always separated; barely seeing each other. So no…no friends."
Phoenix said something in her native language and Cinder snorted with amusement. Then she gave her own reply, leading to Lucy staring at her with surprise.
Or what had to be surprise, at least.
What were those ladies doing? Why did the smartest members of his team also have to be the smartASSest members of his team? At least Phoenix wasn't a telepath…that granted his mind a little bit of peace and harmony. He wasn't too sure whether he could handle three telepathic females rummaging around in his mind. That and the many memories that plagued his thought would most likely drive them insane. It was a wonder that Lucy was still coping with her hyper-close bonds with his mind. She was the only creature that he knew existed that was capable of sharing sensations with a Spartan. How did she even do that?
"Move it." He ordered the Pokemon and placed his body adjacent to the door, preparing to breach the wooden frame. He should first determine whether there were hostile targets or not, but he didn't have time to let the enormous Nidoking march up the feeble steps to put his ear to the door. He would simply utilize plan B: brute force and then escaping with life.
He spun around and delivered a stop-kick to the door, taking care not to breach a small section but the entire piece of furniture. His little accident at the previous breaching back in Fuchsia had been…more than embarrassing. His foot had smashed right and clean through the broad frame in the mansion and exited the other way. So he had basically smashed through the paper door with one leg and gotten himself stuck. That should not happen here.
He was lucky; the door sprang open and the hinges snapped, allowing the wooden frame to completely fly through the room. Time started to slow down as he took his next sweep of the room, but the levels of adrenaline immediately dropped when he realized that there wasn't anybody there.
The room he found himself in was devoid of any opposition. Strange. Where was everyone? Shouldn't the city be filled with Rocket grunts or terrified civilians? It was strange…the city was supposed to be under complete terrorist control. Where was everyone?
"Clear!" He called and moved through the house, making sure that every room and closet was sufficiently empty before finally reaching the upper floor. But when he did, he instinctively lowered his shotgun and took a few steps forwards.
The roof was gone. He was standing in what had to be the attic at the second floor, but there was no room and the wooden edges were completely burned. Something had destroyed the wooden roof using either fire or explosives…and in doing so, probably scared all the civilians away.
The sight was…impressive. Saffron city WAS the biggest city he had seen in this planet. If rivaled busy town-districts back on Gallifrey…before the Covenant came along. It was strangely peaceful to be standing there, on the top of a destroyed building from where he could see the target. The adjacent skyscrapers might be jam-packed with snipers…but he would deal with those later.
From his vantage position on the ruined building he could see far into the city. Multiple buildings were burning and smoking, with an eerie silence pressuring down on him. There was a large, black wall separating the outer layer from the inner layer in Saffron. Was that what was going on? Had Rocket actually separated the most important buildings from the simple civilian ones? The Silph Scope building lay completely in the center of Saffron city and he could see shadowy figures moving back and for the behind the tinted blue glass.
So that was his goal…a skyscraper. A skyscraper filled to the brim with enemies. That would require all of his shotgun munitions…meaning that he could use his assault rifle and the four remaining clips to clear the immediate area. It looked like Rocket was in tight control of the city…if he could somehow rile the civilians up enough for them to attack the walls, he could slip in and clear the building and with that, swiftly decapitate the leadership.
He could rile the civvies up…he should rile them up. But…doing so would result in wounded and even dead, innocent people. After everything that he had done in his life; the people he killed and the sacrifices he had committed all in the name of victory…something simple as abusing an angry mob was not possible. He just couldn't allow the innocent people to get hurt just to give him an advantage –they had suffered enough and if he was a good soldier in the eyes of his Pokemon, the personal sacrifices he would have to make would be more than worth it.
It was a choice between sacrificing his humanity or his body to achieve victory. And after everything that he had been through with his team, he knew just what the real sacrifice would be.
And he would not take it.
"Lucy…" He said and switched his shotgun out for his assault rifle. "Find out what is going on. Stick to the shadows and do not show yourself. Repeat: do NOT show yourself."
The Gardevoir nodded and quickly confirmed his request before she teleported away.
That left him with four viable teammembers to cover him during his venture through the city.
He jumped down the two-tory tall building and rolled once to dissipate the force behind his movement. With his side-arm at the ready in one hand and his combat knife in the other, he started moving. He knew that Fenrir was waiting in with Fluffy at the rear of the house as they were too large to navigate through the interior, while Cinder and Phoenix were able to keep following him through the narrowest paths.
The basement had been built underneath the home that was the closest to the outermost wall of Saffron; the cave-system had effectively enabled him to infiltrate the well-fortified city and even though he was still a long way from home, the prospect of finally being able to call for the UNSC was positive. It reinforced his desire to win and would enable him to keep on pushing through, even when the going would get too tough to normally keep on fighting.
'What is our goal?' Cinder asked him.
"We liberate the trapped civilians in the outer layer of the city." He said, taking the idea of a separated Saffron even further in his conclusions, "Then we will create breathing space…and we push through the enemy forces and breach the tower."
'I see…' The vixen said and suddenly stopped moving. He turned around to face her and was surprised to see that she wasn't being her usual cheerful self. Right then and there, the closest emotion that he could identify on her face was sadness. That…and secrecy. She was hiding something from him…what? 'We could just…leave the city after we found Lucy.'
That stopped him dead in his track. Prior to that statement he had been having half of his mind to focus on the coming fight, scanning his surroundings and deciding on what the best course of action would be. But Cinder's statement was…calling all of his attention towards her. What was she playing at?
He turned around and faced her; looking her in her eyes.
She did not return his gaze.
"Explain yourself." He said.
She focused on a point on the ground between herself and him. Fenrir and Fluffy crept closer to the two of them, with Phoenix carefully sneaking behind the Aerodactyl. They didn't come closer than four meters though, instead choosing to stay back.
'We do not neccesarily have to risk it all for this city. We could simply move on; leave the country and find a place to stay in peace. We could simply run from everyone that wants us dead!'
He simply stared at her, unable to believe what she was saying. Lucy's attitude was deteriorating so fast that he could not trust her with complicated information anymore, Fenrir was a simple and aggressive way to beat his enemies and Fluffy was a mindless child. Phoenix was also a child and Havoc was so new that he did not even know just WHAT she was. Cinder was the only person on his team that seemed even remotely trustworthy: she had had his back all the time ever since he had saved her life. She followed him, was loyal to him and yet she never broke down or backed away from threats.
And she wanted to run away.
He shook his head. "I can't do that. I have a duty to mankind."
'But you have a life of your own!' She cried in distress, raising her head to meet his eyes. She seemed truly shaken by something…what was her problem? 'You can't just keep on sacrificing yourself for people that you do not even know; it us inhuman!'
He wasn't a human. He was a Spartan and he existed for one purpose and one purpose only: to protect mankind.
At. All. Costs.
It had never been about his life: his life was a means to an end and nothing more. He would do whatever was needed to protect humanity and there was no other reason for him to live otherwise. If he could not carry out his duty then what was the purpose of him? He killed and he murdered and he sacrificed all in the name of peace and sanity –he carried out the deeds that nobody else was willing to do. So was the duty of all Spartans: the Secret-Spartans had been designed with that purpose in mind. They were weapons...lances to be aimed at the enemies of humanity.
There was nothing else to do on this world but fight; he did not exist for anything but warfare. Call the UNSC, resume fighting. Beat the Covenant, safe mankind. His ultimate goal.
"I am a Spartan," He said, "I never had a life for myself. The Covenant took that away from me and now there is but duty. To protect and serve."
Cinder shook her head, not willing to believe his words. 'You have proven otherwise. You have meant so much for so many…I cannot let you march off to die. I will not allow it.'
That was good to hear. It meant that he been executing his duty most excellently. But he already saw what was amiss here; Cinder had grown attached to him. She cared too much for him and now she was unable to let him go. It was the same problem that Lucy had…the females on his team were too sensitive. Too emotional…they were compromised by that which they felt.
Time to step in. "Cinder, I do not plan on dying. But if we run now…who will protect these people? Who will stop Rocket…and the aliens?"
'Anyone…anyone but you…' The Ninetales whispered.
"After this is over, we will have weeks to spend together. But now, we are all soldiers. Behave like it." He ordered her and turned around, preparing to continue his mission across Saffron. He half-expected the strange canine to stop him, but she did not move an inch. Had she accepted his command or was she planning on staying behind? She did seem to care for him instead of herself so…perhaps she would move with him?
"Fenrir, find a section in the wall and start breaching it. Fluffy, keep your head down and cover him. Phoenix? With me and Cinder.
The Pokemon jumped to their respective tasks and the Fire-type did indeed follow him. He had one goal to visit right now and that a place where there were civilians; a place where people could tell him just what was going on and what the best course of action would be.
So as he moved past the various houses that were packed so closely next to each other, the first thing that was on his mind was a Pokemon Center. His goal was to find someone that knew what was going on and if he did not find such a person, his campaign against team Rocket would be that much more difficult.
But he didn't really sit still; he was performing two thought-processes at once. One of them was determining how to successfully counter an enemy psychic and the other one was running on full capacity to think of something to say to the vixen that would prove that they had something to do. A duty to perform.
"You see Cinder…" He started, "…as soldiers, it is our duty to protect those that can't defend themselves. If everyone just runs away, innocent people die."
'I know that…it's just that you always get hurt…I want to see you winning something without getting shot, stabbed or otherwise maimed. It hurts me to see that, as it does to all of us.'
"Me too."
They approached a rather large building that stood isolated from the rest of the buildings. Even the pavement in Saffron city felt more industrial than all the other cities he had seen in Kanto and as such, it did not come to a surprise that there was a warehouse standing all on its own-
-wait one…that did absolutely not make any sense at all. Everything in Saffron was packed so closely together that even one missile strike would kill hundreds of civilians. So what was going on there?
"Cinder…your suggestion?" He asked the only trust-worthy partner of his current group.
'I think that the humans are all trapped in there…but for what purpose I do not know.'
He sighed and looked around, hoping that there would be anyone around that could serve as an informational Beacon. But he had no such luck; the area kept clear and nobody was around for him to question.
There was a house to the right and a house to the left…both looked empty. Well, empty enough. There was something wrong though…like he was being watched. He had not noticed that before as he had been too preoccupied…but now? He knew that something was keeping an eye on him. And the moment he would advance towards that warehouse, the trap would spring.
He softly cursed himself for not noticing something obvious like that and decided that if he ever made it out of Saffron alive, he would seriously get around the table with Lucy and have her fix his head. Simple as that. He could NOT keep on operating like that without all the senses and abilities of a proper Spartan. There was only one consequence for an ever-repeating series of deterioration and that was death. And of all the thirteen Spartans that were created, not one had been reported as KIA. He would NOT be the first one.
"Cinder…we got trouble." He softly said and kept his rifle up, not wanting to show any sort of hint that would indicate his awareness of the trap. If he acted with his head instead of falling on his ass, he could still get Cinder and Phoenix out of the fire. "Don't do anything don't give away the information that you now know. Move back towards your cover the moment I give the sign and don't do anything until then. Copy?"
The vixen seemed to finally grasp his language. 'Copy that…' She said hesitantly. Her body still tensed up though; something he would have to compensate for.
He calmed his breath and subtly turned his head a centimeter to his left, grasping the image that he had so briefly seen. From the corner of his eye, he could see everything. There was someone standing in front of a window, in the building to the left of the Warehouse. This collection of structures lay quite a distance away from the central wall; more towards the outer wall. But still…if that person was a Rocket grunt, he would get a hail of bullets. Lucy was not with him and as such, could not identify the person watching him. But in a city that was taken over by criminals, no ordinary noncombatant would so blatantly obvious spy at an armed individual. So the man that was standing in the window was either a very stupid person, or an enemy.
And he could not take any risks. With the city in a brief lull after such an apparent battle in which multiple structures had crumbled, one gunshot would not matter much. Rocket already knew that there were hostiles in the city and he might as well initiate the combat himself. Fenrir and Fluffy were impervious to small arms fire and he took care of the squishier teammates. He could not fall –at least not in this fight. He still had a duty.
Without saying a word, he spun around on his heels and aimed his rifle at the figure standing behind the window, intent on shooting it in the knee. As soon as he had initiated that movement, both Cinder and Phoenix jumped to the side and sought their cover.
And when his finger crept to the trigger and his mind focused on the one shot that would be taken in the time span of point five seconds. But before he could actually take the shot, a white-hot knife was thrust into his brain and scrambled his thoughts. The pain was accompanied by a sense of foreboding and danger, warning him to avert his actions.
His trigger finger instantly left its home and he reached for his head with his right hand, trying to soothe the sudden hurt in his mind. The last time something like that had happened was when Lucy and Cinder had persuaded him to take off his armour, after his own thoughts had essentially tortured him into submission.
And the moment that his finger left the trigger, two shapes teleported in the area between the house and his current position. One of them was quickly identified as Lucy –what with the teleportation being her usual green flare- but the other one was new. If he had to describe the Pokemon –for it was definitely a Pokemon- he would have to guess that it was a male version of the Gardevoir line.
It had white legs and green bladed arms. Where Lucy's head could be seen as a masquerade mask, this one's head could be described as a gladiator mask. Curious; he had never seen anything like that before. Why hadn't his psychic friend mentioned the fact that there were male counterparts to her species?
…Lucy actually NEVER mentioned anything about her species except for the incidental trivial fact about their abilities and traits. And since she had mentioned her lost parents, she had not spoken about her family again either.
Back to business: what was this?
'Master! Stay your hand! His second-in-command told him. No, not told him. She ordered him to. That was not the first time she had commanded him…but this was something else. He made sure that he remembered that he would have to talk to her about that and then initiated contact with her.
"Lucy?" He asked and swiftly stepped forwards to close the distance and join her. "Who's your friend?"
'This is Gallade. He is the partner of our only ally in this city.'
Come again? Ally? Since when did he have allies? What had Lucy done? "Report. What did you find?"
'Please hurry master. There is not much time and there is something that you must hear!'
It wouldn't make sense for him to not trust the very first person he had ever cared about since becoming a Spartan. Lucy was the very first living being he held positive feelings for and even though the girl was going through some…troubling times…he knew that her presence was a good thing.
She was…important to him.
The Gallade kept looking at him with narrowed eyes and tensed muscles. Something about that creature was unnerving and the way it kept a close eye on him…almost like a warrior preparing to go unto battle.
He returned the gesture albeit more subtle and completely lowered his rifle.
Yes…the moment that Lucy betrayed him was the moment that he could lie down and die…or have sex with female elites, because that would never EVER happen to him.
"Stay frosty." He ordered her and moved towards the house at a brusque pace, making sure that he would still be fully able to fire off his weapon at the very moment that ANYONE proved to bear hostile intentions towards his friend.
Curious…since when he start to think of Lucy as a friend? Since when did Spartans even have friends? Friends were an unnecessary luxury that would only serve to help pass spare time that also be filled with training or practice…or so he would have thought had he not met this Pokemon.
So he HAD thought before crash-landing on this world. He was changing…but it was surely for the worse. "Cinder, Phoenix, rendezvous with Fenrir and Fluffy and wait for my call. Do not proceed with hostilities until I order you to."
'If you think that I am going to leave you alone with THEM-'
"Then you will be correct. I gave you an order soldier now pull out!"
He had not meant to raise his volume like that, but Cinder always seemed to have his back and her latest questioning of his duty had put him off his balance. She was confusing him…as was Lucy. He could not handle both females at once and emerge victorious right now. He needed her to fall back now and leave him to operate with his thoughts.
'Don't come crying with me when your action bites you in the ass…' The canine snapped at him with viable aggression and anger in her voice, before she turned around and gestured for the Eevee to follow her.
He sighed and continued walking, trying to forget about the odd look that had been lying dormant in her eyes. Something was not quite right there…but he could not afford to dwell on it. He had to keep moving.
He reached the yellow building and opened the door, not bothering to check if it was locked or barricaded…which it was. He snapped a piece of wood off of the door as soon as he opened it, making him realize that the door had been locked with an iron chain –which did not seem to help very much in blocking the way. Then again; those things could not have been made with the power of a Spartan in mind. It would only make sense for such a small chain to snap off of the wooden frame.
He barged into the building with his rifle at the ready, ignoring the annoyed growl that Gallade gave at his actions.
It would have to get in line for that.
'Master, be gentle please. Gallade's master is sick.'
The trainer that owned the…Gallade…was sick? That explained why he was unable to counter the presence of team Rocket with his team. A sick soldier could only hold an entrenched position with success.
It seemed like it was his purpose to enter this house. Lucy and Gallade had appeared just in time to prevent him from shooting the figure in the legs. So that person was important. And judging by her words, the Gardevoir wanted him to have a little talk with said person. Who was he to ignore her orders?
Her commanding officer, for one.
"Anyone home?" He called and quickly cleared the rooms before he entered one final quarter. There was a kid sitting there; barely older than sixteen. A white blanket was draped over his shoulders and his skin had a sickly looking paleness to it; not much unlike his.
So this was the sick trainer that Lucy had been talking about? Curious.
"Hello." The boy said and got to his feet, extending a hand to him as if he wanted to introduce himself. "My…name is Alexander."
He looked at the extended hand with disapproval and walked right past him, taking in his surroundings instead. The room had an excellent view over the outer layers of the city from where he had come. Why was this boy sitting here all alone? And more importantly; where was the rest?
And just what had Lucy done when he had ordered her to gather information?
"Right…" The kid said and coughed awkwardly, dropping his hand. "I take it that you are her trainer?"
"Affirmative." He replied, having made sure that there were no immediate threats around. Time to get busy with gathering information. Lucy was still talking with the male counterpart of her species and therefore, not paying attention to him. 'Alexander' was also looking at the two, but his expression was one of happiness and caring…or so he thought.
While identifying the feelings of his team was becoming slightly easier to do, he still had no idea what human emotions were supposed to look like.
"What's the situation?" He asked the boy.
He didn't have to wait long for a reply, as the sick owner of the Gallade immediately started talking. It had been such a while since he had encountered a serious or calm person like that that it actually felt relieving to be able to speak with him.
"Yes…situation." He coughed a few times in an uncontrollable fit and that immediately drew the attention of his Pokemon partner, who looked up and then joined his trainer in the living room. The Gardevoir followed him and with the two humanoids sitting next to their individual trainers, the boy continued talking. "Team Rocket took over this city weeks ago, before I arrived here. I'm not from Kanto."
Like that mattered. "Continue."
"I came here with the plan of challenging the Elite four and winning the Kanto league but…but I fell ill. As you can see."
Yes he could.
"I've been doing my best to prevent them from harassing the inhabitants too much, but I can't do more."
"What has been going on then? What are they doing?"
"Team Rocket seems to want to gather all the people in one place, hence those walls. I managed to save quiet a lot of them, but at the same time my…situation got worse."
As if the kid called it out, another coughing fit hit him and he was unable to speak for another thirty seconds. It occurred to him the Gallade seemed particularly worried about his trainer…to such a degree that he was actually able to identify the emotions that plagued its features.
He waited for him to finish choking on his own lungs before he cautiously asked a question himself. "What does Rocket want with the civilians?"
"N-no…idea…" Alexander managed to say throughout his attempts to get enough fresh air. Then his fit was over and he was able to speak again. "The warehouse you were about to approach is filled with rescued people…men, women and children. There are still dozens of prisoners in the Silph building…and that is the center."
"And Sabrina?"
"I fought her in the past…but she has changed. Became stronger…and meaner. I didn't encounter her here and…to be honest, I don't want to now. The citizens of Saffron are the top priority but…"
He had heard enough. "I understand."
'Comfort him.'
Not now Lucy…please not now.
He threw her a questioning glance –or something that was supposed to be a questioning glance- and was rewarded for his troubles by an explanation.
'He blames himself for not doing more; he is angry with himself that he had to fall sick in such a critical period and he knows that those people are likely suffering.'
He sighed and remembered the last time he had tried to comfort someone. It had…actually worked somewhat. Hmm… "Continue protecting the civilians. As soon as I take the fight to Rocket, things will get hot. I need you here to help them with your Pokemon. Keep them safe…I will do the rest."
"I'm sorry? The rest?"
"Yes. I will take care of things."
"How?"
"All that needs to be done is stop the Rocket occupation in Saffron. In order for that goal to be reached…"He paused and checked the remaining clips for his assault rifle. "…I will need to kill them all."
"Kill them?" Alexander said with a shocked voice. "Isn't there any other way?"
There probably was…but this was the headquarters of a hostile terrorist organization. If he held back even for a second, innocent people would die. He couldn't afford to mess around and try to catch the enemy instead of killing them.
"Not today. I have spared too many enemies…remember kid, they hold the weapons. They hold the civilians. You make sure that everyone keeps safe and I will do the rest."
Alexander nodded, perhaps understanding the moral dilemma. "One more thing…are you from Hoenn?"
"Lucy find Cinder." He was just about to issue another order to her when he heard the boy say that last, strange word. "Gesuntheit."
"Eh…thank you? I take it that you are not from Hoenn then?"
"No. Why?"
"Well…you have a Gardevoir."
"So?"
"Ralts only live in Hoenn…another country, not too far from here, but still a long way to walk. Where did you catch her?"
"Nearby Pallet town."
"Pallet town? You found a Ralts there? In the wild?"
"Yes."
"That is…very strange. Unless it already belonged to another trainer, in which case you would have stolen it…does she have a Poké ball?""
"Yes." He showed the curious boy the red ball that so obviously defied the normal technology in Kanto. "This one."
"That is strange…you are certain that it was there?"
"Positive."
"I have no idea what is going here…perhaps someone carried a community with them to Kanto…"
That was not the point.
"I found just the one, but focus. Keep your head down and protect the civvies."
Alexander nodded in agreement. "You be careful as well…and good luck."
Why did everyone wish him good luck? He didn't need luck; he had…not much ammo. He nodded to the boy and gestured with his head for Lucy to follow him, which she did. Now that he had a way to keep the civilian population safe, he could start his next operation. Clearing the Silph building was his top priority, but if he wasn't careful his team would get sniped by hidden hostiles in the skyscrapers.
"What did you do?" he asked his partner as the two of them made their way back to the rendezvous point, where his team was busy creating a gap in the wall.
'I found young Alexander in the house, keeping a close eye on the warehouse with the people. His partner was keeping him company and I realized that they had to be guarding them. When you arrived and were about to shoot him, I stopped you.'
"You stopped me?" He replied as he quickly covered a few meters across open terrain when nobody was looking. "That was you?"
'Yes. There was no other way to stop you than to seize control over your body, if only for a moment.'
"You…seized control? How did you do that?"
'I utilized our special bond to traverse to your mind, temporarily controlling it. The experience was…unpleasant…for both of us.'
"You do that in a combat-situation and we're dead. You do that in any other situation and you will be spending the rest of this journey in your ball. Understood?"
'You misjudge my actions, master. You would have shot the only one capable of helping us.'
He knew that. That was the sole reason that she was still moving freely around. "Next time, warn me."
'If there is time.'
He ignored the fact that she didn't seem remotely guilty about causing him pain and kept on moving, already seeing the rest of his team waiting for him by the remains of a ruined wall.
At least they seemed to follow his orders without a doubt. He was curious though; if a Ralts did not live in the country where he had landed with his pelican, how had Lucy been there? Why did he find a creature in his way when by all rights that creature should not have been in his way?
Well…it did not matter now. Lucy was there with him and he had to make the best out of the situation.
"Listen up!" He commanded his team when he got there, taking notice of how Cinder angrily averted her head. "The large building called Silph Scope is our target."
There was only one possible strategy that he could use in his attempt to clear the coming building. The large corporate skyscraper was roughly one-hundred meters away from his current position: a one-hundred meter charge over an open road that was flanked by tall buildings all the way to the target building. If he were to cross that, sniper fire would destroy his team. But he also needed them to cover him, so he couldn't just leave them behind and clear the building himself. As much as he hated to admit it, he was vulnerable without his armour. His Pokemon would have to help him deal with the enormous amount of hostiles in that building and they could not do that from within the civilian sector of Saffron. So if the way was clear during his initial assault, they had to join him. If the was NOT clear after the initial assault…he would have to come up with a different strategy.
He scanned the surrounding buildings again and frowned when he did not directly see whether there were hostile snipers or not. Even worse; there had to be many dozens of civilians trapped in that building. His first plan would not work that way…unless he did something completely different.
"We need to enter that building and save the trapped civilians." He concluded and racked his mind to come up with an idea to execute. He had no idea what the opposition was like and if he messed up, innocent people would die. There would be no telling what the enemy had in mind for their arrival. For all he knew they could have rigged the surrounding area and if he were to run into Sabrina, he wanted to have Lucy at his side. "I-"
What was he going to say? That he had no other plan than a wild run that was based on an assumption? That he was empty and devoid of ideas? That he required them to come up with something?
"-have one idea." Now it would come. They would not like this. "I need you all with me during the assault. But I cannot risk you all moving across open ground, in case there are enemy snipers operating there. The solution?"
He rose from his kneeling stance and made his way to the gaping hole that Fenrir had so lovingly created for him. There was nothing else to say or do except execute the first part of his plan. The one thing that could perhaps be done was talking with his team about the course of action that would be taken after the first strike.
"I will cover the distance on my own, revealing the traps and hostiles. That way, you can eliminate them and join me at Silph Scope."
Just as he had foreseen. His team did not agree with that. Fenrir and Phoenix immediately started yelling at him in their own native languages and the telepathic segment of his squad did not let him live his decision down either.
'Have you lost your mind? You cannot do that master!'
'You promised me! You promised me that you would not get hurt!'
There was no other way…no magical solution. He was a soldier and there was only one thing that had to be done.
"Don't argue!" He yelled, shutting them up, "I don't plan on dying so just listen to me! I will need your help. All of you. When I expose the hostiles, you terminate them before they hit me. "
'This is completely insane!' Cinder cried in distress. 'There has to be another way to do this!'
'She is right. I will not allow you to do this…I won't let you go!'
He turned to Lucy and faced her, straightening his back and standing tall. "Then stop me." He told her and turned to the hole. "Or do what it is that your species does. Protection."
'This isn't fair…' She whispered, her voice but a faint echo in his combat-tailored mind. Right now, his entire hormone system was going nuts. Adrenaline flew through his veins and he could feel the faint tingling in the back of his spine that indicated a suicide move. He was about to risk it all and stare death in the face. But he had better plans than dying: duty.
"I forfeited fair when I became a Spartan."
'You had better get there alive. Nobody's life is worth yours, master.'
Too late. He had already laid his life down in service of the UNSC: he could never return to the old, before the arrival of the Covenant. "Cover me."
'Do you promise?' Cinder asked him.
"What?"
'That you will win this thing and return to us?'
"Don't be so dramatic. I have survived much worse at the hands of much more powerful enemies. I will be fine."
He sighed and stepped over the rubble. "Spartans never die."
And then he moved.
~0~
She watched her trainer move and felt her own body tense up with anticipation. His movements were as fluid as water and his speed went unrivaled; there was no living thing alive that was faster than him. He exploded out of his cover and was already a good twelve meters underway before she had even realized just what he had said.
"Spartans never die."
That sounded way too ominous…was there a double meaning behind those words? Well…whatever he meant, it was irrelevant now. She had been unable to stop him…and she had not even tried to do so. Of course he would pull something like this…it had been like this since the very first day. His life was unimportant and he risked it every single time he went into combat.
She knew deep down that she should have stopped him. There was no way that he would live to tell the tale if he did this…and still she had let him go. She had let him go and run off towards his doom when she should have really captured his mid and incapacitated him. That would be the true means of protecting him, as a Gardevoir really should. She was a failure to her kind –if he died, that is. But he would not die. She was there to make sure that nothing would go wrong.
He was already one-third of the way and only then did the enemy start firing at him. At least a dozen windows exploded into little fragments when the hiding humans suddenly opened fire, sending many more dozens of projectiles his way.
Her heart skipped a beat when she witnessed that and her mind was taken over by a tranquil state of fury, causing the psychic layers of her mind to go nuts. She frowned and made her way to the opening, utilizing her powers to send the multiple pieces of scattered glass straight back into the window –bloodily killing at least four gunners and wounding two others. She watched with satisfaction as splatters of blood fell onto the pavement below, followed by the mangled bodies of those who had attempted to murder her master in such a sneaky manner.
Math executed several strange and complicated zigzag-patters in his movement and actually dodged all the bullets that were send his way. He jumped and rolled and dodged faster than her eyes could initially follow and by the time the bodies had hit the ground, he was already halfway.
Then, multiple explosions went off on the road. It appeared that the Bad Humans had burrowed explosives, rigged to blow when her trainer was going to cross them. Before her emotions tightened their grip on her heart, something else tightened a grip on her mind.
It was a strange experience. It was as if her vision had lost most of its bright colours, turning to a dull grey spectrum. The falling drops of blood and shards of glass slowed down deeply and refused to fall down at their normal rate. At the same time, tranquility spread throughout her mind and caused her thoughts to travel at a much faster pace than her already superior mind normally caused. It was a frightening to experience such alien sensations, but it also granted her with the ability to interfere with the world like a demon might do.
She executed a complicated pattern herself, utilizing her right arm. In doing so, she manipulated the energy flows throughout her body to such a degree that they gave form to her will.
A reflective barrier appeared at a point fifty centimeters in front of him and stayed there; coinciding with his body and traveling with him. Using that reflection, she rebounded the incoming forces that threatened to engulf her trainer-
-who managed to keep running without slowing down. His degree of trust was…heartwarming. He was unfazed by her sudden interference and kept on charging towards the Bad Human Headquarters. Total time elapsed between his sudden movement and him surviving those explosions: four seconds.
"What was that!" Cinder cried and joined her beyond the opening in the wall. "What did you do?"
But the mighty figure of Math appeared from the other side of the column of smoke and she felt relief emanating from the Ninetales.
"I saved him. I think it is time for us to support him now. Fenrir? Fluffy? Time to move." She ordered the tough Pokemon. Fluffy looked down at Phoenix, who then nodded in approval at him. Fenrir did not need such a confirmation and immediately jumped to action.
With those two strong Pokemon assisting her trainer, she was free to take Cinder and Phoenix and clear the few scattered yellow buildings around the Silph building.
"What is your plan?" Cinder said as she beckoned her.
"As a second-in-command, I now advance this mission. The guys will take down the building from the front and we will make sure that there is a place to fall back to when necessary."
"I am impressed." The Fire-type said as she started running to the side, avoiding the brutal combat that was sure to continue once Math had reached the doors. "I thought that you hated thinking like a soldier."
"It serves its needs now and then…" She replied and made her way past the thin buildings. Gunshots followed and she winced when her ears hurt from those sudden explosions of noise. She was just about to continue talking and explain to Cinder what she had just experienced, when a dull sense of blunt pain spread itself through her body. It wasn't that painful; merely because it wasn't HER pain. It was her master's body that just experienced a wave of bludgeoning all across his body. It didn't feel like it was lethal, but it still hurt him a lot. What had he done?
Well…he was still alive, so that was a thing.
"So what is going to happen now?"
"Master will save the civilians and we will provide them with a means to escape. To do that, we should clear those houses around the tall building."
"I got that much. I mean in this city. Will he contact his people after this is over?"
That was not important right now. "First we need to win this fight, make sure that nothing happens to our trainer. After we have beaten every single Bad Human in this city we will see what shall happen next."
"Yes…fine, if that is what is necessary. But you have to agree with me on one thing: something is very wrong."
She nodded in agreement. "Yes…the air here feels wrong. Corrupted. The Bad Humans could not have caused something like that…I suspect that it is the Human Psychic that has tainted the air. But worry not; we shall cleanse it."
"Cleanse it? You mean the air, right?"
"Yes…sure, the air."
"How will you do that?"
She smiled and flexed her arms, preparing to search and destroy the scattered groups of Bad Humans.
"I think I am going to employ violence."
~0~
Not many materials that he knew of could stop a Spartan in full MJOLNIR armour when said Spartan had reached velocity. Amongst those materials were the hulls of a Covenant Wraith tank, Starship-graded armour plating and the shield of a hunter. He knew from experience that those things were capable of stopping a sprinting Spartan with moderate success.
More materials were capable of stopping a Spartan without his MJOLNIR armour. Amongst those materials were the metal plating of a lot different vehicles, the swinging head of a gravity hammer and as of now, he could officially add the glass doors of the Silph Scope building to that list.
As soon as he had attempted to smash through those doors like he had done half a dozen times in his time in Kanto, his body had crashed to a jarring halt and then collapsed in front of them. It was NOT a pleasant sensation and it reminded him of getting whacked over the head by the shield of a hunter…with two gravity hammers attached to it. Needless to say, his head was hurting pretty intensely and his body hurt all over the place. He was VERY glad that his bones could not break because quite frankly; every single rib that was present in his ribcage would have probably shattered by now.
He heard a faint rumbling approaching him from the rear and guessed the rest. Two Rocket Grunts stepped closer to the glass doors and started pointing and laughing at him, making stupid faces and generally being dicks.
The thumping sounds got closer.
He half a mind in shattering the door on his own and then beating those two men to death with their own skulls, but his physics-breaking spree had to end one day.
So he merely rolled to the side and allowed the charging Fenrir to smash right through the doors, sending pieces of glass/plastic flying everywhere and flattening the two grunts with the remaining frame of the blue Spartan-blockers.
He made a mental note to allow the Nidoking to take point more often and put in in the same directory as his idea to place an HE-spewing piece of tank on the creature's back.
The sheer look of shock on the faces of those two criminals before they got splattered by the flying door was just purely satisfaction. He didn't usually enjoy seeing people die, but this had to be the exception to that rule.
But he shouldn't be wasting time. He had a mission to complete and he could ill afford to stand around gawking at violence when there were civilians who needed rescue.
With his assault rifle at the ready, he advanced through the room he had barged into. It was a large atrium with two large fountains in the middle and a reception-desk in the back. This used to be a commercial building until those terrorists took over alright. The next two places where he could go were the stairs that lead to the upper floors and the stairs that led to the basement. Rocket couldn't be so stupid as to trap all their hostages in one place…right?
He charged down the stairs and kicked the next door he encountered to pieces. Barging into the dark room he quickly adjusted to the lack of lights and identified the targets that he stumbled upon. There were three guards standing in a long hallway, two of them slacking off and the last one busy training with his Raticate.
His rifle barked twice as he ran up to the trio and caught them by surprise. The bullets caught their targets square in their heads and as the two black-clad individuals collapsed to the floor, blood trailing the normally clean wall, the third one looked up-
-and caught the butt of an assault weapon to his face for his troubles. Before the man could even flinch from that attack, he grabbed a handful of his uniform and then slammed his head against the steel wall, killing him with one hit. The Raticate was about to attack him and receive a knife for lunch, when a grey blur sped past him and latched itself to the brown rodent.
He watched the Aerodactyl go for the throat of his foe and turned around when the process got bloody. It seemed that Fluffy was always hungry, even during such brutal fights. But he had no desire to watch the apex predator tear the rat apart; he had a fight to finish.
He reached the end of the hallway and shot the heavy lock on the door, allowing it to open. His gunshots would have most likely gotten the attention of everyone in the building and if the captured civvies were to go anywhere at all, he needed to move soon.
With that in mind, he doubled his pace and increased the speed of his movements. The door opened, light poured on the multiple dozens of sitting hostages and he was back in Vermillion city, saving the hostages after having just lost Lucy and Cinder. But this time, he was without his armour and just as human as the captured people were.
"Move it!" He yelled and gestured for the exit with his arms, making sure that everyone could see him. "I'll lead the way, there is help out there!"
These people didn't need much encouragement at all, it seemed. From the moment he had opened the door, at least three people stood ready to jump and overpower him. His appearance and sudden shouts shook them awake though and they realized that he was there to safe them.
"The man is right. Follow him!" A voice from out of the crowd said. He needed no more encouragement and immediately turned around to leave the basement.
Back in the atrium he came to realize that the people would most likely be attacked from above by the many gunmen that had ambushed him, even after Lucy had eliminated them. So he stopped at the door and ordered Fluffy to head out there and take care of the possible threats.
"Fenrir, you took. Clear a path!" He told the two bulletproof creatures and watched as they immediately followed his orders. Their loyalty was splendid and they had so many uses.
"Hold up." He told the mob of civilians and concentrated on the violence that went on outside. A few shots were fired, but the high-pitched screeches and violent rumbling of raging Pokemon drowned those out with ease. And a minute or two later, the only audible noises were those that were made by Fluffy. Fenrir patiently waited by the door to see if his trainer would follow him or not.
And that would be not.
"Fenrir, lead these people back to the entrance where we came from. There is an isolated warehouse there, with a yellow house that is inhabited by a boy named Alexander. Bring them there and he will take care of them. Then head back and rendezvous with Lucy and Cinder."
He paused for a few seconds and added: "I have to deal with Rocket now. Don't wait for me."
With that, he turned around and headed up the stairs, preparing to finish the fight with Rocket for once and for all.
~0~
"Did you hear that?" She asked her ally.
"Yes…it was weapons fire. Not Math's, but Rocket's. Did they catch him?" Lucy replied.
"They can't catch him!" The Eevee happily yelped. "He has Fluffy!"
"And right you are…" She comforted Phoenix. 'Catch' had only been a figure of speech. If those weapons 'caught' her trainer, he would be dead. There was no way that Rocket would want to take him alive after everything that he had done. But there was also no way that they WOULD get him alive. He was just too skilled…too powerful. Nobody would beat him, psychic or not.
She sighed and let the building, heading for the next one to clear. Lucy and her had been very efficient in their fight against Rocket…almost too efficient.
But that only meant that the operation was going fine, right? They were winning!
And yet…yet there was a hint of finality in the words of her Spartan. Like he did not expect the fight to go as he had imagined it to go. It spoke volumes about the stress of his life: home-world gone, no friends, forced to live as a weapon not ever finding peace and then finally getting confronted with his true nature. No organic being could live through that…and Lucy's link with him was only prove of that. Math was falling apart slowly; she could feel it. His mind didn't feel like the iron fortress it used to be –it was more of a swamp now. And Lucy was spiraling with him to the ground, judging by her escalating persona.
She had been a lovely yet childish girl before she evolved: pure, innocent and naïve. Prone to emotional outbursts, yes. But she had been so kind…so caring and sweet. And even when she had evolved into her new form those traits had been carried over. A new maturity had fallen like a veil over her gracious personality, brought on by new responsibilities and powers. Her trainer had been turned into the number one important person in her head and yet she would do anything for all of her friends.
But that intense increase of power and bond with Math had been too much. Almost immediately after Lucy had gained increased entry to her trainer's mind, she had begun to change. Her kind and sweet attitude had taken a sour route with uncontrollable anger and fury, but that was still okay. She aimed it at their enemies and she had been too much of a stoic before that. Emotions were good.
But it had not stayed at that. Lucy had developed her anger into hate and her fury into wrath. Soon, her empathic tendencies turned sadistic as she started to revel in the misery of others. The pain that she caused others –pain that usually crippled her with the emotional backslash- was now riling her up. That was when the warning lights had started flaring in her own mind, but even then it had not stopped. The Psychic had them started to demonstrate how she felt for her trainer by aiming her wrath…well, at him.
And it made sense to her –of course she could understand her troubles, she was walking around with the same ones. Math was a broken demon. Bane to the enemy and hero to allies…at first. But when one took a deeper look at his life and stripped away all things that time itself stripped away, the only thing that was left was a disturbed and fragmented soul that was so tormented by its surroundings that it had locked all sensations of humanity away.
That was who Math was: a teenager forced into the role of a demon. And still she loved him. And not only did she love him, but Lucy also loved him. But because of his damage, he only saw them as weapons. Assets that could be turned into the advantage to win a fight and even though he had dumped the attitude of wanting to dump then, he could still not see past their tactical use and see them as persons.
Living beings that needed love and attention; persons who were dying to receive a loving caress or a caring hug. Math was unable to give them the love that they needed and that hurt so badly. It hurt more than anything the world could throw at them could ever do.
But he did not know that. And while she ignored that emotional neglect and abuse, Lucy did not.
She took all her anger and frustration and used it as fuel to further enlighten her desires, making her even more eager to prove herself as a living creature to her trainer. Lucy took all that anger and frustration and directed it at her trainer…only she did not realize that.
She was much like the human in that regard; the Psychic did not understand her own feelings. Kind of ironic, seeing as she was always aware of what people around her felt. She was so closely linked to her surroundings that hard to discern things like thoughts and intentions simply bled into her mind and got absorbed by her consciousness-
She stopped in her movements when an ice-cold realization came into being. Lucy had been subjected to her trainer's mind for far longer than any of them had ever been…the Spartans messed up and corrupted head might be fine to simpler psychics and himself, but such a gifted person like Lucy would be heavily influenced by it…and that was even at first glance.
She slowly felt a rising sense of dread fall into her stomach and her senses instantly sprang to active. It all made sense now! Lucy was so deeply integrated in her trainer's mind that all of his blackness and corruption was seeping into her mind!
But she was strong…stronger than he was. She resisted him with all that she had, judging by the way she had broken down when faced with the consequences of her actions. She had sobbed and told her that she was sorry…that she didn't know what was wrong with her.
That had been one of those unique moments that the true, untainted Lucy had emerged. That meant that the psychic had effectively developed…a split-personality.
One personality that was desperately reaching out for help, trapped in the dark prison hat was her mind, and one personality that took a twisted pleasure in hurting the beings around her, reveling in misery and dominating those that were her friends.
But now the question was…which one of these personalities was currently holding her company?
"Cinder?" A sweet voice asked, almost challenging her to turn around.
Which she did. "Yes?"
"Something troubling you?"
And which one of these personalities actively read her mind?
~0~
Multiple rounds impacted on the wall behind him as he rolled over the floor, firing short, controlled bursts with his own weapon in return. He was now on the third floor –three of the eleven- and the enemy presence was officially confirmed. He had fought his way past crazy scientists with their floating magnets, he had kicked at least three Poké ball resembling hostiles out of the windows after having seen one of them explode violently and he could have sworn that there was a humanoid creature somewhere in the fight that had wielded a pendulum. Strange critter that was…it had looked a bit like an elephant. But grey. And bipedal. And dead by bullet to the face.
But that was of no concern to him as he was eager to return their kind invitations to a party. His bullets were 150% more accurate than theirs were and in the brief moment between five Rocket grunts with assault weapons turning up to shoot him and him shooting back, he only wasted ten rounds.
Five of which resulted in headshots and five resulted in body shots. He was getting sloppy.
He charged past the falling bodies and thundered up the stairs, taking care to avoid incoming attacks from Pokemon. It was a bad thing that he had left his team behind, but he had done so for a reason. He could not allow any of them to get hurt and he needed them together if they were to defend themselves against a counter-attack –which would most definitely come. Because he had yet to encounter severe resistance from the Rockets, despite their best attempts to murder him. That could only mean that the rest of the more capable resistance was either concentrated on floors below him…or floors above him.
He shook those thoughts out of his mind and continued his rampage. Arriving on floor four now, local hostiles: four Rocket grunts and two scientists. Hmm…time for Intel.
Four simple pulls of the trigger caused four simple heads to receive new 7,62x51 mm sized holes and two not-so-simple scientists to cry out in alarm and distress. Why were these people slacking? The intruder-alarm had been sent three minutes ago, when he had first started his run upwards on floor one. By all rights these people should be standing in cover with their weapons drawn and Pokemon at the ready. Or didn't they even know the rules of engagement concerning these situations?
It didn't matter to him. Engagements won with ease were engagements he liked. With that in mind he stepped closer to the scientists and ordered them down with his rifle. They didn't need much encouragement either.
"You'll pay for this! Team Rocket has more influence than you have ammo!" One of them said.
He was right; he did not have enough ammo for everyone. That was exactly the reason why he couldn't just shoot the man in his kneecaps to get him to talk. Melee would have to suffice…in both situations.
He kicked the man in his chest –gently as not to break all of his ribs- and then asked his own question. "Why take over this building?"
Apart from the logical tactical advance form having a centralized position with good cover, civilian hostages and enough scientists to boot. And the high-ground, that was always good.
"Giovanni ordered us to work here on our experiments…we don't know anything else!" One man said.
"Except for the Master ball!" The other one smartly pointed out.
"Oh yes, forgot about that."
"Seems to be a commonly arising trait with you nowadays!"
What was wrong with these people? "I just need to know where to find this Giovanni."
"Oh, the boss! Top floor, you will need a key-card. Go to floor five and ask for Larry. Tell him that Bob send you."
"Thanks." He said and left the two alone. Their stupidity was unmatched…and served to save their lives. With no Lucy or Cinder around to stop him he was free to shoot anyone that even remotely resembled an enemy. If only he had more ammunition…
He made his way to the fifth floor and shot three grunts that were waiting for him. "Larry?" He yelled and sought cover when two more criminals appeared to take potshots at him.
"Over here!" A muffled voice came from outside an office room. "Busy!"
"Bob send me!" He replied and jumped out from cover and threw his combat knife at one hostile-
-who went down without problems.
"Who excels at throwing knifes in a gunfight?" His partner yelled and stopped firing to check on him.
"Spartans." He softly spoke to himself and delivered a roundhouse kick to his head, sending him crashing into the nearest wall where he stayed.
"Larry?" He said again and searched a few rooms. All of them had cages in them with various kinds of locked up Pokemon."
"Over here!"
He made his way to the office next to that one and opened the door. A bald man with a lab coat was standing with his back turned to him, busy with something that he could not see.
But the four cages with obviously terrified and hurt pokemon spoke volume bout his activities. Rocket had been experimenting with Pokemon before…Phoenix was the living breathing example of that.
"What are you doing here?" He said.
"Busy with the Pheromone project…why, a lowly grunt has never shown interest in my work before."
Gunshots didn't seem obvious enough and he felt like murdering the man with his recently reacquired combat knife. And Pheromones? The things that insects used to communicate? Chemical signals…using Pokemon as experiments?
"Got a key-card?" He asked the man.
"Yeah…" Scientist man replied and showed him the card. "Why?"
He knew that he shouldn't be wasting ammunition on such lowlife thugs, but he really needed to know just what the hell was going on. So he shot the man in his right knee and downed him, ignoring the futile attempts at screaming.
"What are you doing to these things?" He asked him and took notice of a few documents lying on the table. Sketches of a canine-resembling creature…with incision-marks all over the lower body.
"Please…don't kill me…"
"Tell me and I will think it through."
"I was ordered to experiment on these…P-Pokemon to see if we couldn't…replicate…calming p-pheromones that certain d-drugs utilize. M-makes them easier to catch."
"What was the result?"
"I-I don't know! The f-first creature was shipped o-off by our boss."
He had heard enough. He grabbed the man's neck with one hand while he reached for the documents with the other. By the time his left hand had finally re ached the paperwork, his right hand had tightened its grip to such a degree that he shattered the cervical vertebra, killing him instantly.
He shook the dead man away and stuffed the documents in his duffel bag; now effectively filled with six Poké balls, five of which were empty. His entire team was out there somewhere and Havoc was still with him. So basically, his bag was now filled with Pokemon-related items, including those health potions. How the mighty have fallen…
He plucked the key-card off of the dead guy and continued his clearing operation throughout the building, increasing his speed and ferocity. He freed multiple other hostages and most Pokemon that he encountered, but his ultimate goal was the death of everyone Rocket-related. So as he was charging through the hallways filled with bodies that had died from too accurate fire, he briefly wondered whether he would have enough munition to deal with the situation. He only had three clips left for the assault rifle, eleven slugs for the shotgun and a total of ninety percent charge in the Plasma pistol. He would improvise.
Traversing the chairs to floor eight, he decided to finally mix things up a little. The Rocket Grunts were becoming moderately well-armed to extremely well-armed to the point that the suppressing fire of seven machineguns was enough to make him seek cover.
He waited three second until the fire went down and then burst from his cover to take a few shots at the hostiles.
Three weapons clattered to the ground as his bullets hit their marks and smeared the wall with red blood and bits of brain matter. Now that the suppressing fire had ceased –if only for a second- he was free to move.
Which he did. He dove from his cover, unleashed two plasma bolts towards the enemy and then sought his cover again –in an office approximately three meters closer to the target. He didn't need to confirm the hits of his shots; the screams of anguish and pain coupled with the stench of burning flesh was enough to indicate their casualties.
Covenant weaponry. Ever so effective.
The screams faded away as the grunts sought cover and he was free to move again. He sprinted down the hallway, punched a terrorist in the face when he failed to get the hell out of his way and send him flying out the window, shattering it to pieces.
Up the stairs, towards floor nine. Why were these people suddenly falling back? Had they some sort of central line that required the help of everyone to keep it protected? No…there was something else. Something that would compromise his mission if kept unchecked…but he couldn't get his mind to focus. It was like an eye that refused to align with the barrel of a rifle; frustrating and impossible to fix in the raging fires of war. Keep moving.
Then he heard what was wrong. He had not paid much attention to it because of the violence and noises that had been storming around him, but now that the only sound of warfare was the distanced yelling of Rocket members, he had finally noticed it.
It was the sound of roaring engines and spinning rotors of a helicopter. Giovanni was in Saffron…and he was about to get away. That was unacceptable.
He increased his speed and cleared floor nine without any other resistance safe for two Weezings, who died easily when he applied bullets.
But when he came to floor ten, it became obvious what he had been missing. That one missing link in his mind suddenly fell into place and he felt like hitting himself against his head with a gravity hammer. For a mind that could process half a dozen different scenarios in the span of seconds, it was a colossal failure to simply 'forget' about the possibility of enemies regrouping to work with the assistance of reinforcements.
He was now running alongside the many windows that he had seen back during his charge across the open terrain. They were nonreflective, meaning that he could see the helicopter suddenly popping up next to him, a dozen meters distanced from his current hallway.
And those two miniguns attached to the sides did NOT look pretty. Those rounds would outright kill him if they hit him…but he could not simply dodge them in the confined space he found himself in. At the very end of the walkway was an office where he could get some temporary cover, but that was only after a run of two dozen meters across open windows without ANY form of cover whatsoever.
Conclusion? He was very boned.
Why was he still hearing the noises of two helicopters when there was only one there to attack him?
He cursed underneath his breath and started running, time already experiencing a severe distortion as his body flooded with chemicals and hormones.
Because there were two choppers; one sounded heavier than this one, most likely because it would be a troop transport while this one was an attack chopper. Giovanni had him boxed in between a window and two heavy miniguns…metaphorically and literarily.
So what would he do to change the odds in this fight? He could not simply dive out of the windows to smash himself into that chopper, the risks were too great. All he could do now was continue moving and hope that he got close enough to the head-man himself to get in the borders of a danger-close run, effectively securing himself concerning air support.
Yes…that was a good idea. If he could outrun the spinning guns of an agile and well-armed attack helicopter, that was.
He kept on running, placing one leg in front of another and forcing his form to move as fast as it could. His muscles burned as his legs pumped his body down the hallway, quickly reaching at least forty kilometers per hour.
The guns discharged-
-and shattered all the windows behind him, causing a sudden gale of wind whipped up by blades of the chopper to sweep through the building. Hundreds of shards of glass, metal and even plastic were sent in and out of the building as the entire floor exploded into bits. The waves of bullets annihilated everything they came into contact with and the deafening roar of those spinning machineguns all but drowned everything else in his mind. The one thing that mattered now as the empty office ahead, with sturdier walls and secured beams of metal. He couldn't afford to take the left bend around the corner, because the chopper would then catch hum in a straight line where he could not possibly dodge the lethal rounds.
He kept on moving and the rounds kept on going, sending the waves of destruction closer and closer to him as the pilot nearly aligned his fire to his body.
Ten meters to go in front of him and two meters to go behind him.
His body was a synchronized machine, moving with pinpoint perfection with limbs that did not burn more energy than they needed to. He was the pinnacle of warfare, perfectly shaped to kill and destroy and even as he was being forced into a situation where he could only be put on the defensive, never attacking and always retreating, he still managed to squeeze a tiny hole into the tight schedule of events.
He forced his legs to propel his body forwards, dodging the many waves of shrapnel that came towards his head, felt the gush of wind nearly miss his legs as the deadly rounds of the chopper tore through the building, pulled out his sidearm and released a single shot.
The bolt of plasma flew straight and true and impacted on the windscreen of the chopper, melting through the window with ease and narrowly missing the head of the pilot. That would most likely mess with his machinery enough that he would be forced to circle around and try again. In the meantime, he had a brief window of opportunity to reach his target: Giovanni.
He jumped out of the office, checked if the situation was clear and then started running again. The staircase to floor eleven was dead ahead and he could just make it in time.
A loud swooping behind him answered his attempts with a big fat 'NOPE' and he doubled his efforts to get to the staircase in time. The attack chopper was back and already preparing to skewer him with hundreds of rounds. But that would not happen; he was too fast and too agile. He would reach the eleventh floor sooner than that bird could take him down.
Just a few more meters to go…almost there, keep moving.
His breath was supposed to be even and calm, but his heart beat like crazy and the adrenaline levels in his blood were making his head spin. But his limbs were stronger than his mind and his focus was clear.
The helicopter opened fire and decimated the hallway; hundreds of projectiles sped towards him and destroyed the offices, doors and even floor around him. The high-penetrating ammunitions that were fired off with him as a target were enough to absolutely level the tenth floor. There was no way that he could possibly make it to his target through that hail of death.
And yet he did. His chest caught multiple pieces of shrapnel and one of his legs went numb for a few seconds before a white-hot cleaver cut through it, but he still managed to cross the staircase and take cover at the eleventh floor.
The dust and smoke that had been whipped up by the repeated hits on his life were making it hard to get a clear vision on his next target. Where was Giovanni? This was his office right?
Suddenly, the metallic click of a revolver being primed. A lifetime of training took control over his mind and he instinctively jumped out of the way, reaching for his shotgun on the process. Only two clips of his assault rifle remained and the plasma pistol needed to be saved for armoured targets that would otherwise be impossible to take down.
His body came to a halt against something solid and dove underneath it, not caring what it was supposed to be.
"Stay there!" a familiar voice yelled. Who was there? What was happening?
He blinked rapidly to shake off the pain and lack of vision to concentrate on what was transpiring right then and there in the room. He could make out more than half a dozen shapes, a few of which were larger than the average human shape.
Eventually, he reached a minimal level of visibility and the battlefield became clearer to him. He could see three grunts coughing and holding their hands for their mouths, a large bulky Pokemon that looked a bit like Fenrir, but then less armoured and with a different tint and smaller horns. And one man stood in the middle of the chaos, wielding a suit and also holding his arms in front of him in an attempt to get a grip on the fight.
That had to be his target: Giovanni. He needed that man alive for his operations: the source of everything that had been going on in Kanto…the blame was his.
There was another shape standing there. A very familiar shape, one that he could almost place in his mind.
"Nidoqueen, blow the windows!" A charismatic voice said. Giovanni was practically oozing control and command, even though his entire occupation had just been stopped stone dead.
A loud, feminine scream confirmed his order and a second later, an explosion of energy toe through the room. Most of the destructive power was aimed at the back of the ten by ten office, so he didn't suffer much from the blast. He was lucky though; the three grunts that were standing by their boss were pelted by the shockwaves of the blast and nearly swept off their feet. The familiar shape –still obscured by the columns of smoke- had to grab the nearest object to stay on its feet: which was the Nidoking.
…no fair, Fenrir was WAY more aggressive than that thing was. Nothing happened yet, but he was planning to change that.
He jumped over his cover and sighted in on the three targets that would post the biggest trouble: the foot-soldiers, commonly referred to as grunts.
He shot all three in the head and only then did the time-distortion that had been dominating and ravaging his mind cease. All colour returned to his vision and he could almost make out what was going on in front of him. Giovanni, the familiar figure and the Nidoking that had taken her place in front of the two to protect them from further harm. Clever girl.
"Hold it right there!" The commanding voice said. "Before anything happens, I believe that you should listen to me. I do not know what compelled you to go against the most powerful organization in the world, but I can still guarantee your safety. If you would just out your weapon down, we can discuss this like gentlemen."
In return to the man's statements, he began searching for an opening. A middle-aged, dark-haired man with clear eyes and a now female figure with a military shaped green-black suit. She had short, black hair and a…subtle but long scar running down her cheek. She had a revolver on one hand and a knife in the other. How very stupid of him…of course it was her. He should have seen it coming. Rumors being spread about him and Rocket organizations always knowing where he was?
Yeah, a leak alright.
"I think that you have already met Operative S, by the way?"
Hello Lieutenant commander Arckson.
He didn't respond in any way, but he also couldn't get a clear shot. And that chopper hovering outside the ruined building was also not very attractive to him. If he didn't act now, his target would run and he wouldn't be able to find him again. How would he resolve that problem then?
He needed that man alive…but he had no intention of letting Arckson slip either. Frankly, he wanted both of them alive.
"I don't think so." He said and took a step forwards, probably initiating aggressions in the eyes of the large Pokemon as she started to snarl at him. He aimed his rifle at the Nidoqueen and prepared to fire. "You shut up."
"I don't think that this is the right time to talk then." Giovanni sighed and slowly walked backwards together with his Operative S. "No matter. We will see each other again…"
What was that supposed to mean?
The large helicopter made its way to the opening and dropped the hangar door, revealing at least three grunts with pistols ready to fire.
After a split-second of hesitation he realized what he needed to do. For now, he would trust the situation to resolve itself after he had taken cover from the hail of bullets that now suddenly came his way.
"See you later soldier-boy!" S yelled and jumped backwards into the aircraft, firing her pistol all the way.
He cursed and backed up, firing short controlled bursts as he fell back to a manageable position. The combined weapons fire was enough to drive him back and he could only shoot two of the three gunners before both Arckson and Giovanni had taken refuge in their ship. The Nidoqueen resembled Fenrir with her bulletproof body and she blocked most of his shots.
"Come back Nidoqueen!" The head criminal yelled and recalled his Pokemon, officially ending the conflict there.
It was of no use; his weapons couldn't bring that thing down and he couldn't risk a boarding attempt. No, he would fall back and regroup and then-
The ground shook suddenly and a wave of energy washed over him and forcing him to take a step backwards. New hostiles had somehow managed to arrive at the scene, but he couldn't for the life of him understand what the hell was going on.
Three of the hostiles had teleported into the room, using the same psychic patterns as Psychic-types used. They were roughly humanoid, having two arms, two legs and a head all attached in the same way that a human's limbs were. But their skin had a metallic glean to it, being light-grey and blue in appearance. It almost looked like the shimmering armour used by the Drones. Blue light patterns ran across their chests and limbs gave them the appearance of Forerunner tech, only blue instead of orange.
They really did have a human shape, now that he could concentrate on them with the full prowess of his brain. Except for their heads…which had two electric spikes sticking out of their heads in a horizontal fashion, attached to the place where their ears were supposed to be. Their eyes were cylinder-shaped light-blue…lights…and a vertical slot where their mouths were supposed to be.
Were these robots or part organic?
He didn't have more time to ponder their appearances as they immediately engaged him. For three minutes straight he engaged the trio in close-combat, soon learning that the impact of their fists was all but deadly. Everytime he avoided their attack, the limbs would continue their movement and smash into a wall or piece of furniture, heavily damaging it.
In the end he delivered a roundhouse kick to the first one, took a step towards the second one to slam him with a powerful uppercut and then kicked the third on in its head. Then he grabbed his combat knife and whirled around the second one to slash at its neck. He felt a pang of relief when the sharp blade embedded itself deeply into the hostile's neck-region, only stopping when the hilt of the knife slammed against the tough metallic skin.
He withdrew the knife and let the lifeless body fall to the ground, shaking silvery blood off of the weapon in the process. The first creature had closed in on him and was preparing to deliver a lethal punch to his throat-region, but he was still faster. He reached for the third one and spun underneath its extended arm, before twisting it around and pushing it at its ally.
The first hostile punched the third one in the chest and completely ruined its frame, sending it crashing to the ground with its silver fluids splattered all over the place.
He grabbed his shotgun and shot the last one in his face, but by then seven more hostiles had teleported into the room and he was forced to retreat down the hallway.
But his luck did not end there. The enemy attack-chopper chose that exact moment to reappear and its high-explosive rounds tore through the walls, nearly catching him in his legs. He was forced to jump in the air and slam his knife into the ceiling to dodge the incoming rounds. Behind him, the robotic enemies followed him.
This was getting hairy.
Then, all of a sudden, one of the metal supports keeping the upper floors suspended gave away and the entire eleventh floor collapsed, sending him gliding down the hallway as it tilted down. He was able to grab a hold of a nearby metal frame and hold himself there, but one Poké ball fell out of his pocket and continued the road.
He swore as he released the one thing that prevented him from falling to go after Havoc's ball. Tha lady had the worst timing.
His fingers closed around the capturing device and he threw it in the air, hoping that it would stay safe at a rock until he could come and get it.
His luck had something else in mind. The ball bounced off of a wall and released the Magikarp within…in the middle of the hallway, where gravity could also engage them and pull the golden fish down again.
"You always bring me in trouble…" He sighed as the fish was swept into his arms.
"Karp karp Magikarp!" It flopped around. Great.
The attack chopper reappeared and maneuvered itself into an optimal position to grind him into little pieces with a lot of bullets.
He didn't know what to do…he had no idea on how to get out. He was stuck with his back against a steel brace, roughly inches away from falling to his death while alien monsters that resembled humans came to murder him with fists and an attack heli was ready to shoot him to little pieces. There was no way out; why was there no way out? What did he do now? How would he get out of this?
The Magikarp was flopping like crazy and if it didn't stop, it would fall.
Why was it becoming so warm?
He looked down at the golden shape and was surprised to see that it was now, in fact, white. Havoc was…evolving. Seriously, now? He couldn't hold her anymore if she evolved and if she kept that up, he would lose his grab and fall either way.
With one hand he grabbed his plasma pistol and began firing at the incoming humanoids and with the other one he threw Havoc in the air, hoping that she could get enough space to evolve and possibly save his ass.
The chopper was now in an optimal position and the silvery hostiles were still converging on him. They all ignored the useless Magikarp that was trashing around with its evolving body and for good reason. The flopping fish was truly pathetic and if he had to choose between shooting an Elite shipmaster and a choking grunt without legs he knew which target he would take.
And all attack chopper paid for that mistake.
While he was preoccupied with the incoming helicopter, Havoc chose to evolve into an exploding building. All the rooms and braces and windows exploded outwards as a monstrous roar nearly deafened him.
"What?" He muttered and was nearly swept out of the window by the explosive forces. Something was going on…and that something was also destroying Silph Co.
The metal bar he had been holding on to for dear life snapped in half and he plummeted out of the window that was now positioned below him. His body smashed through the glass and he was about to engage in his second free-fall in two days, when something wrapped itself around him and completely covered his body. It felt hard, scaly and very, very tough.
He felt his body being dragged to the inside of the building even as something else crashed out of it. He got dumped onto the collapsed hallway and he quickly managed to grab another steel bar, this time assuring that it would support his weight.
A giant, red snake was curled around the building, latched with its head onto the attack chopper and dragging it into the building. The head of this monster alone was ten feet tall, with a gaping black mouth that was capable of swallowing an Elite whole. The rest of its body was so immensely large that he could not even estimate its full size. It seemed like the rippling red scales would be as bullet-resistant as Fenrir was and the yellow underbelly looked just as well-armoured.
"H-Havoc?" He asked, having never ever seen such an escalating evolution before. The creature had to be larger than sixty feet, ranging longer than a Pelican dropship. This…this was a creature of war…and it was Havoc? Seriously? He had NOT expected that…he didn't expect this.
And as the draconic head slammed the helicopter into the walls of the building, another thundering tremor shook the building. The tenth floor that had made way for half of the eleventh collapsed and then completely disappeared.
And before he knew it, the entirety of Silph CO came crashing down…with him standing at the top.
