December 13
Dawn's head, huddled inward against her seat, lay in her arms. She ignored Sanus' ramblings, focusing only on her inner monologue. Tiny, fleeting raindrops condensated on the thick window, illuminated by the setting sun. Even from the opposite end of the chopper, she could see the clouds floating gracefully above her, unaware of the war below.
Sleep continued to elude her warm body. Methodically bumping her head against the plastic headrest, she clinched her eyes shut to keep from crying, and failed. The guilt of leaving Ash to die, let alone putting Zoey down, still mounted on her shoulders, crushing her mind and soul with increasing intensity.
She silently broke into tears, burying her head in her knees. To show weakness now, to admit death to her emotions…no one could see her do that anymore.
A warm hand clasped her shoulder. She slapped it away and retreated further into her ball, sniffling.
"Dawn? You alright?"
Dawn scoffed and looked up. Brock knelt beside her, while the other G-Men pretended not to notice her moping. "Is that a rhetorical question?"
He grinned. "It doesn't have to be," he said. Dawn moved her backpack from the seat next to her. Brock took the hint and sat down.
"It's just…we didn't even try to save Ash. We left him pinned under that door for him to burn!" Dawn's pitch rose to a squeal. Brock embraced her before she began weeping again.
Gently stroking her patches of tangled hair, he cooed soothingly to calm her. Her cries devolved to an infrequent cough.
Brock sighed. "He knew what would happen, Dawn. You need to understand that Ash only had us in mind. He knew that he, Laina, and Pikachu had to die to save everyone else." He spoke softer than velvet, turning the worst news into a Jigglypuff's lullaby.
She cradled his shoulder. "Still, he didn't even get to know that Zoey died, or that Leon-"
He held her closer when an overhead compartment above them burst open, spilling its contents onto the floor just inches from Dawn's feet. Sanus cursed and scooped it all up – two stuffed backpacks, a transistor radio, and about five bulky first aid kits.
"Zoey, she-"Brock fell to a loss for words and sighed. "She died in a peace that none of us will ever know."
"That's why I'm mad. She took the easy way out. We get to go through hell while she-"
"Everyone shut up!" Sanus hissed. He hunched over the scavenged radio, wildly twiddling the dial. Everyone, except for Barkson in the pilot's seat, gave Sanus curious looks.
A low hum buzzed from the little box, varying without pattern with each flick of the dial. Sanus frowned with frustration.
"I swear, I heard a signal!" he said.
"You sure you're not hearing things?" Adrian grunted. Dawn ignored Sanus' rebuttal and returned to Brock.
"Can't you see that this mission failed? Ash and Zoey are dead, and so are the thousands of grunts and prisoners that were in that building." She sulked and hid again. "We're no better than the Empire."
An elderly man's voice startled Brock into silence. His wide eyes met Dawn's. "The radio!" they both said.
"Shush!" Sanus waved at everyone to huddle around the metallic box. He amped the volume to the maximum, and the voice carried over the low drone of the chopper blades.
"-unknown what caused the explosion that destroyed the Rocket Empire's headquarters, but rebel forces believe that the G-Men, an elite vigilante force, may have been involved. Damage to Jubilife City is extensive, perhaps in the hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars. Casualties, both civilian and enemy, are estimated to be around four thousand in Jubilife alone."
Dawn threw herself into Brock's chest, sobbing with the strength of four thousand men. Sanus lightly slapped her arm to quiet her before pointing back to the radio.
"-interim leader of the Northern Sector, Jasper Malloy, is believed to be alive and well after evacuating the compromised-"
Sanus cursed loudly, and everyone else stared at the ground in bitter expectance of a renewed battle.
"As the day went on," the monotonous voice continued, "rebel forces unaffiliated with the G-Men fought against surviving Rocket personnel throughout the entire Northern Sector. Local governments in Jubilife, Snowpoint, Hearthome, and Celestic are believed to be in civilian hands, with other cities struggling to remain under Empire control."
Dawn gaped. "They're fighting back? As weak as Sinnoh is, they're fighting back?"
"They saw their chance," Sanus said, stone-faced. "Once Headquarters fell, people must've realized the power they actually had."
Michael sighed. "Now it's just a matter of getting the other regions to revolt."
Sanus nodded and turned the radio off. "That's exactly what we have to do." He stood and locked himself in the pilot's cabin with Barkson. Dawn whimpered and sought Brock's embrace once more.
"It had to be done," Brock muttered, petting Dawn's hair soothingly. "They all died for a r-"
"It never mattered!" Dawn cried. She turned from Brock, addressing everyone. "Jasper's still alive! We didn't save anyone!" She stood and threw her arms up. "Everyone that died this morning died for nothing! Ash, Zoey, Leon…everyone!"
Clutching her throbbing head, Michael caught her as she fell and calmed her, sighing in discontent as she sobbed. Adrian's eyes fell, hands wrenching, mouth twitching.
Brock shook his head in anger. "Isn't she right? What was the point of almost dying if we still failed?"
"It brought us one step closer." Sanus emerged from the cockpit, closing the door behind him. "If we've taken back Sinnoh, they'll get word out to the rest of the world."
"So what's next?" Adrian said to the ground. "Hoenn?"
"That was my first thought," said Sanus matter-of-factly. "If we turn south, we can land in Lavaridge by midnight. The only problem is that Jasper won't be there. Think about it, guys. If you were the head of the world-dominant Empire, where would you want to go if your life – and your Empire – depended on it?"
They sat in thoughtful silence. If Jasper wouldn't go to Hoenn, his nearest safe haven, then what other options were there?
"Kanto?" Dawn suggested.
Sanus pointed to her affirmatively. "That's where he has the most power. Kanto – the Eastern Sector to them – is the only region where Jasper can control all of his territory effectively. It's where everything began, and it's where everything has to end."
"That can't bring back anyone we killed," Dawn thought. "Saving Sinnoh didn't matter if we can't bring back anyone that died. Not Cyndaquil, not Togekiss, not Lance, or my mother, or Zoey!"
She found Dragonite's, Torkoal's, and Magnezone's Poké Balls in her pocket and clutched them, shedding a tear.
"It can't bring back Ash."
December 14
Ash awoke to the scent of stale metal under his nose. A low hum persisted in his ears, drowning out the chopper blades above him and the snores to his left. His wrists, still pinned behind him, ached with a sharp metallic zing from the handcuffs. He groggily tugged at them weakly. No luck.
He lay on his shoulder, his back against a flimsy mesh wall. The carrier didn't allow for much light to shine through, but Ash felt morning's grogginess slowly wash away. Stretching his legs, he grunted in surprise when they flexed without hindrance. He planted his feet back on the ground and tried to stand up, but he lost his balance and fell back to the ground, shooting pain into his shoulder.
An immobile lump across from him jerked to life. It stirred the same way he did, struggling to get up before falling back down again.
"Ash?" it moaned.
"Oh shit," he breathed. He crawled to her and nuzzled her. "You alright?"
She groaned and sat up against the wall. "I think so." Her eyes widened and darted around the chopper. "Oh Arceus, we're still-"
Ash turned around and surveyed the chopper. He counted eleven faces in all – Jasper slept against another grunt, his head planted into his shoulder. The others all snored loudly, either laying down or, when space didn't permit, resting against each other. One man used a dingy lab coat as a blanket, clutching it to his body as he shivered in his sleep.
The metal grating surrounding the walls sucked away any life that the aircraft could've harbored. Everything intimidated Ash – the piping running down the walls, the dull grey boxes haphazardly thrown here and there, the blips and radars mounted above him. They all looked benign, but thoughts of how any of it could be used as torture devices made him shudder.
"Ash, where's Pikachu?" Laina said.
His heart skipped two beats, his head darting around every nook and cranny of the chopper, searching, hoping, that they hadn't disposed of him.
A cage in the far corner gleamed in his eyes. He crawled on his stomach toward it, collapsing with relief when a small lump inside limped awake. "Kaaa…" it moaned.
Ash ignored her and knelt, hopping around so that his back and cuffed hands faced Pikachu. "Any chance you can undo these, buddy?"
"Ash, get your ass back here!" Laina hissed, diverting a cautious eye toward the sleeping grunts.
He felt Pikachu's paws weakly fingering his handcuffs. Craning his neck, Ash gasped at a large, wet, bloody gash just under his nose.
"Did they do that?" he asked, nudging toward the grunts.
Pikachu nodded, lowering his head.
An earsplitting screech made Ash turn toward Laina. A Scyther held its bladed arms against her temple, using the other arm to headlock her. Ash grimaced at Jasper's lanky figure standing behind her. Discolored stains splotched his jumpsuit, his greasy, unkempt hair nearly covering his eyes. The scent of a decaying Exeggcute emanated from his pit stains.
Ash leapt to his feet, but lack of balance made him fall over once more. His nose cracked upon impact, and blood gushed onto the metal flooring and his clothes. He looked up disdainfully at Jasper, snarling at his triumphant grin.
"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" Jasper said, stepping in his direction. "Even after I let you live, you still had to come looking for trouble." His grin widened. "Tsk tsk, Ash."
He spat at his feet, steadying himself back onto his knees. "You still wanted us, bastard! We gave you the egg. What more could you want?"
Jasper looked down into his eyes, smirking. "In case you haven't figured it out, that egg wasn't enough." He grabbed for Ash's chin, rubbing it tauntingly. "The egg has too much power for it to go to waste. The power that I can harness from it can't be matched by any existing Pokemon!" He knelt to Ash's eye-level. "But we can't tap into it without you, Ash."
Laina squirmed in Scyther's deathly grip, staring helplessly at Ash. He could hear Pikachu clawing at the cage's padlock.
"What do you mean?" Ash shot back, scowling.
"Attitude, Mr. Ketchum," Jasper reprimanded, lightly slapping him on his cheek. Ash didn't appear fazed.
"Haven't you done enough damage?" Laina said.
Jasper slowly turned to her, frowning. The grim look on his face wiped her defiant stare clean. "It's never enough, Woodwright. It's never enough."
Ash opened his mouth to speak before Jasper shushed him again. "Have I ever told you how I got to be this fucked up?" He laughed a laugh of self-pity over jubilation. "I hate to bore you with my sob story when I should be ridding myself of you brats, but since we have the time…"
He sighed and sat down in a seat in front of Ash, ignoring the grunts staring at him curiously.
"When I was a wee lad of twelve," he said giddily, "I got to kill a man for the first time. Under the same circumstances as you did, Ash m'boy." He stared at the ceiling and giggled. "To save my own damn life. Isn't that how it always starts?"
Ash could've sworn his eyeballs began to roll into the back of his head.
"Murderers don't start killing because they want to, Ash. Something inside their delicate mind begins to tick, and tick, and tick, like a clock spun out of control. And then they start to collapse, succumbing to those tempting ticks."
Jasper yanked his hair and brought his eyes inches from his own. "But then the ticks quicken, and they become so fast that you can't discern tick from tick. It's like a fly that buzzes in your ear forever and ever, driving you to madness! But the fly speaks to you, Ash, speaks louder than anyone could ever shout at you to snap out of the insanity!"
Ash didn't speak, avoiding Jasper's eyes as he flashed a glimpse at a trembling Laina.
"And that little fly sends you over the deep end," Jasper growled. "One day it might tell you to blow up a building, or kill the ones you love! And that's when it all stops." He paused. "When you think the insanity, the pain, the mental degradation couldn't get worse, that little fly stops buzzing, and the ticks grind to a halt. That's when everything you ever had vanishes."
The grunts behind Jasper stared with horror. Ash silently willed for one of them, any of them, to do something.
"You and I are alike, Ash," Jasper laughed. "The only difference is that your fly hasn't quit buzzing. I've lost everything thanks to you. I can't even afford the luxury of sanity because you've ruined everything I worked for in the Northern Sector. But you…you're still working in here." He rapped on Ash's forehead. "You haven't bowed to sanity's farewell."
Without another word, Jasper walked back toward his seat, unclasping a woolen knapsack. Ash snuck a glance back at Pikachu, who rattled the bars on his cage. Laina quaked in Scyther's grip, its blade centimeters from her chin. The grunts avoided making eye contact with Ash, out of fear of having to sympathize.
He gasped when Jasper approached him with the egg – the one stolen from him when Laina and Dawn nearly died. It glowed bluer and brighter than before, almost like an inflated, colored light bulb. Jasper tossed it in the air playfully, mockingly pretending to drop it. Laughing, he twirled it like a basketball.
"Like I said, Ash, we've already got the egg. We just don't have the power. You kept that for yourself, remember?"
"I don't know what the hell you're talking-"
"This egg is worthless to us!" Jasper exclaimed. "You're the only one that can unlock its power, the only one that can hatch it!"
"So you only wanted to capture Laina and I and bring us to Kanto to open your jar of spaghetti sauce?" Ash scoffed.
Jasper slapped him harder this time. The bitter sting burned on Ash's cheek. "You're the one that found this thing, little shit. The egg recognizes you as its father. I'd treat it, and me, with some respect."
He stared up at the executive defiantly. "I didn't want to be this egg's father! I didn't want anything to do with it, or you! So if you think that I'm gonna help you out with this egg and give you the power, you're out of your already fucked-up mind."
"Out of my mind? Ash, that's assuming I still have one."
Jasper clenched his hair with a constricting grip, making him grunt in pain. His other hand pressed the egg's surface into Ash's temple.
That's when Ash, as Jasper foretold, bowed to sanity's farewell.
Any pain he endured over the past month dwarfed to microscopic proportions when the egg brushed his head. He could feel the Aura's rush invading every corner of his head, assaulting every square inch of his mentality with a flaming sledgehammer of pain. His eye sockets sizzled and oozed, but he couldn't see any smoke through the whiteness of the blinding pain.
He doubled over and screamed into the ground, far beyond any comprehension. The force assaulting his body drained any and all strength that he had. His body writhed in agony, shriveling like a prune in heat. Each tooth shook and chattered, ready to burst from his mouth like volcanoes.
Laina and Pikachu's shouts of fright and exasperation went unnoticed as tiny wisps of bluish vapor evaporated from Ash's mouth. Jasper stood over him, expressionless, absorbing the vapor with deep, labored breaths.
Ash's arms flailed behind his back, struggling to cradle his bottled head. His throat burned out from screaming, and all he could muster was a high-pitched rasp that hurt worse than nails on a blackboard. A ringing in his ears tuned out everything else, and the whiteness carried him away.
The pain didn't subside; it vaporized instantly. He opened his eyes to nothing. He was the lone paint on an all-white canvas. Bringing his arms out in front of him, his unbound wrists showed no signs of constriction, or blood loss.
"You…"
He glanced to his right and saw Jasper standing several meters away. They started running for each other, growling, arms poised for attack.
A thunderous explosion in their ears brought both of them to their knees. The renewed pain halted both of them, but they remained silent.
"The one with the sacrificial power…"
They locked eyes briefly, a mutual recognition between them: the voice that addressed them was the same one that brought them here. Eyes searched their asylum vainly for any sign of their captor.
"…to release the egg…"
Again, their eyes met. What had happened to the egg? Did it hatch when they were brought here?
"…shall undo the other's actions…"
Neither of them had to look at each other to know who the "other" was.
"..forever!"
The voice dissipated into thin air, and the whiteness burst in a dark grey pallet. Ash fell to the ground again, all of his strength departing from his body. His breathing grew rapid, eyes fluttering open and shut in an effort to cling to consciousness. The handcuffs on his arms rematerialized, fixing his arms behind him.
He looked up at Jasper and saw white-hot smoke pouring from every crevice in his body. His mouth, eyes, nose – everywhere. Jasper struggled to stand, clutching his forehead. But when he finally rose, the grunts behind him cowered in fear.
That's when Ash realized the helicopter had grounded.
A hissing sound made Jasper grin. He nodded toward Scyther, and the pokémon released Laina from its grip. Panting, she charged at Jasper, leaping at him with one foot outstretched. He sidestepped her attack and dealt a jab to her stomach.
She cried in pain as she landed hard on the ground next to Ash. They both lay there, moaning, waiting for Jasper to finish them.
But he never did.
A harsh cold wind blew through suddenly. Ash and Laina curled into balls, barely conscious of Jasper rolling them toward the end of the chopper.
Ash barely saw Jasper grin as he pushed them overboard. They both landed in a hard pile of ice and snow, sending a freezing pain up Ash's spine. Their handcuffs and the slippery surface made it impossible to stand up. Laina yelped at the sheer cold, and Ash struggled not to do the same – even with two layers of clothes on, the freezing winds painfully stabbed and tore at his inners. The rising sun offered no help.
The chopper roared to life once more. As it rose into the air, Jasper tossed Pikachu's cage out the rear, landing with a crash on the ice just inches from Ash.
"Thanks for the help, Ash!" Jasper taunted.
He growled as Jasper's cackles filled the stiff air, even after the helicopter vanished from sight. The snow began to leak into his boots, sending him bolting to his feet.
"Ash, where the hell are we?" Laina moaned. She stood and knelt by Pikachu's cage. The pokémon began to pick at Laina's handcuffs, grunting and straining to unlock them.
He moaned and looked all around him. By the little light he had, he made out a towering mountain peak in the distance, capped with white snow. All around him were jagged rock formations, crystallized with ice. A blizzard flew from the sky, barraging Ash's skin with each snowflake.
Ash heard metal clink on the ground. Laina cheered weakly – Pikachu smiled smugly at the broken handcuffs.
"Great job, Pikachu," Ash said. "Can you do mine?"
He nodded, and Ash collapsed next to his cage, placing his arms against the bars. "Laina, try to find a pathway or something. I don't wanna stay here long."
She wordlessly sauntered around their plateau, inspecting the land around them. "I think I see something, but it looks really steep!" she hollered.
The cuffs around Ash's wrists broke loose. Ash turned to Pikachu, smiling. "Now it's your turn." He picked up his cage and started for a wall of rock to his left. "Hang on, buddy. This might hurt some."
"What are you-"Laina started, but Ash didn't stop to listen before ramming the cage into the wall. It shattered to pieces as Pikachu fell to the ground. He limped onto his feet and, shaking his head, climbed onto Ash's shoulders.
A shiny glint on the ground caught his attention. Ash knelt and noticed that the ground, where the snow didn't obscure it, glistened like tinfoil. Brushing the snow away, he gasped at the ground's shininess.
"Silver…" he breathed.
"What?" Laina turned back to him, her hands rubbing her goose-bumped arms.
He panted heavily, staring up at Laina dejectedly. "I think we're on Mt. Silver."
Brock jolted Dawn awake as a flash of light illuminated the cramped chopper. She leapt out of her seat instinctively, arms swinging and legs kicking.
"We're landing!" Brock shouted, but she couldn't hear him over war's roars outside. He no longer wore his Rocket uniform, instead sporting a large, mud-colored winter coat over blue jeans.
She cowered when an explosion blasted below them. The helicopter shook wildly and threw Dawn into her seat.
"Dawn, put these on!" Sanus yelled, throwing a bundle of clothes at her. "Vermillion's a war zone – the Rockets are dropping like flies!"
Energy from a stray Hyper Beam narrowly missed blowing the aircraft to pieces. Dawn tore the uniform off of her body, replacing it with a pink button-down blouse and dark pants. She gagged.
"Are we supposed to be running for our lives, or attending a business meeting?" she cried. "This is hideous!"
Brock barely heard her. "We're trying not to get killed here, and you're worried about clothes?"
A screeching, grinding noise threw everyone's hands to their ears. The chopper lurched forward slower than before, like something was dragging it along.
"I think we landed!" Adrian said. He slung his pack over his shoulder and struggled to stand.
"Please ensure that seat backs and tray tables are in their full and upright positions!" Sanus joked, but the aircraft stopped all at once, throwing him to the ground and silencing him. The crackle of gunfire and cries of dying men and pokémon sounded apocalyptic. The burst from a Thunderbolt landed feet from the stalled chopper.
Barkson emerged from the cockpit, bags bulging under his beet-red eyes, and ran for the helicopter's exit. "Once you start, don't stop!" he shouted.
Everyone broke into a panicked sprint after Barkson as the huge metal door slowly lowered. Dawn leapt over the half-lowered door and, lagging behind everyone, ran into the hellfire.
The sheer brightness of the midday sun made her wince. Her stride faltered, but the magnified amplitude of the chaos around her quickened her pace. Great towers of fire stemmed from the ground – even from several hundred feet away, her skin began to burn. The morning sky, normally a baby blue, absorbed menacing shades of black and red.
Flashes of gunfire blinked, sparking splashes of blood from the fallen and falling. But Dawn noticed the Pokémon that bobbed and weaved through the fray. They stabbed and tore through bodies as often as they collapsed. She had to look away when a Muk, just feet from where she ran, spat poison into a man's eyes before devouring him whole.
Brock slipped in a bloody puddle and fell, kicking Dawn down with him. Her head cracked open on the hard concrete, blood from the puddle mixing in with her own. She stood, dazed, barely registering a gunman's rifle pointed at her.
But she didn't bleed out, or fall with a bullet hole in her chest. The man slowly lowered his gun before running away from her and toward the bloodbath.
"Keep going!" Brock urged, tugging at her shirt. They continued running without aim, dodging strikes and jabs from pokémon at their sides. Leading the pack, Sanus elbowed a grunt and yanked his rifle from his grip.
She swatted a Voltorb away just before it exploded. Flying back several feet, she landed on a dead grunt, her face rubbing into his. A Metal Claw slashed Michael's neck open, and Dawn barely avoided being crushed by his falling body before she started off sprinting.
Sanus and Barkson didn't even look back.
Brock outstretched a pointed hand, skidding to a halt. "Head for that motel!" he cried.
Five pairs of feet shuffled in confused before darting in a new direction. Dawn set her eyes on a single story motel. Its blackened exterior and fractured wall didn't make it stand out, but to the G-Men, it had Five-Star rating written all over it.
The spreading fire burned brighter and stronger – she almost felt the flames prickling against her skin. Pops from Sanus' rifle burst like popcorn. Dawn thought of calling out Dragonite to fight for her, but decided against it when a pokémon of the same species fell to gunfire.
Smoke in her lungs keeled her over before the motel's threshold. Brock didn't even slow down when he yanked her arm, dragging her against the bloody and glass-littered porch way. The roof and walls of a hotel room enveloped her, and the door slammed shut.
Her first gasp of clean air sent a stabbing pain through her throat. She gasped a little, and slowed her breaths as the pain started to subside.
Barkson dropped his bags onto the crusty carpet and scoffed. "No beds," he grunted. "Looted, probably. Don't get comfy, kiddies." He made for the faucet in the bathroom, and a small dripping noise sounded. "Water's nearly clean. Dawn, c'mere and drink up."
She limped toward the sink and lowered her head under the tap, nearly choking on the water. It soothed her lungs and cooled her hot, metallic mouth; she didn't even mind that it tasted like her blood.
As she wiped her face and neck of residue, the others went to work covering the broken window with a stray bedsheet. Not it'd shield them from gunfire or pokémon attacks, but the false sense of security comforted them, if only for a little bit.
Sanus collapsed in front of the door, his head in his arms. "Pay your respects to Michael now, before we hightail our asses out of here."
They all stood in silence, thoughts of Michael trumped by sounds of a barrage of Ice Beams outside. Dawn never got to know Michael – she only spoke to him once – but she felt sorry for him, anyways. But for every Michael out there, she thought, there had to be dozens of fighters, hundreds of Pokémon, all dead. Dead and forgotten, just like Michael.
Sanus nudged past her and grabbed a telephone sitting a wooden plank from a missing nightstand. "Good thing the phone's still here," he mumbled.
"Not like anyone really needs a phone," Barkson said, "since almost everyone that can be called is dead, after all."
He slowly nodded and punched the "speaker" icon before picking out a set of numbers: 673-3525.
"Who are you calling?" Brock asked.
Sanus motioned with his hand to quiet him. "HQ," he said.
"Thank you for calling Celadon Department Store," a cool female voice parroted. "We are currently closed at this time. However, we can connect you to various departments to assist you to our fullest extent."
Dawn frowned and stared at Brock, who only shrugged. Adrian and Barkson placidly stared at the receiver.
"If you're calling for our Customer Service desk, press one. If you-"
Sanus cut the voice off by hitting "1."
"If you're inquiring about our Sunday Saver Coupons, press one."
He hit the same key again. Dawn and Brock both gawked in disbelief.
The voice continued. "If you're calling in regards to a faulty coupon verification code, please recite the code now so we may best assist you."
"One four four nine three."
A slow jazz tune broke into song for a second before the voice came back. "Now, please recite the eight-character serial code printed on the back of your coupon."
"What coupon?!" Dawn mouthed to the others.
"Override System Three Five Two Five, direct to root network. Status Zero Three."
"Confirmed." A low, deep voice replaced the female one, much to Dawn's surprise. An unfamiliar dial tone rang through the air, directing everyone's attention from a bombshell detonating outside their window. Sanus stared at the phone tensely, willing for an answer.
It came after the eighth ring. "Name and region of service?" a man said.
"Sanus Trine, acting Commander of the Sinnoh G-men."
With a breath, the voice relaxed. "So you survived the journey to Kanto, eh?"
"Yes, sir" said Sanus, rustling his smoke-stained hair. "Well, those that are left, anyways. There are only five of us."
"There isn't a superior agent I can speak with?"
"Negatory. Commander Morawski, our own leader, died in the line of duty. Lance Luxforde is also dead."
The man sighed. "Very well. How fast can you get to Celadon?"
"From Vermillion?" Sanus turned to Brock, who held up three fingers. "Three days. That's assuming we get there alive."
"We're transmitting your location based off the phone you're using to three agents presently in Vermillion. Find some structurally sound shelter and stay put until they come for you. I don't care if you're all trained vigilantes, we can't afford to lose you at a time like this."
"Thank you, sir," he said. "Any further instructions?"
No response.
"Sir?"
"Trine, what have you heard about a trio of heat signatures originating from Mt. Silver?"
He frowned. "Haven't heard anything. Is this recent?"
"Within the past few minutes," said the man. Sanus raised his eyebrows at everyone in puzzlement. They all shrugged.
"By all means, investigate if you can," Sanus suggested. "Heat coming from Mt. Silver isn't natural as far as I know."
"Affirmative. We're expecting your arrival within the next few days." The receiver clicked off.
"He said 'we're'," said Dawn. "What did he mean by 'we're' expecting your arrival?"
"The other G-Men. I just don't know who that was on the phone. I haven't had any contact with an agent outside of Sinnoh." He pointed to everyone. "Make sure you have everything with you. We'll need it for the trip to Celadon."
Barkson coughed. "I'll feed my pokémon, and I want everyone to take turns doing the same while we wait for these escorts." He released a Toxicroak and Feraligatr, taking up whatever free space they had in the already cramped motel room.
Dawn backed herself against the wall and slid down it as she sat. "Sanus, what the hell happened outside?"
He grinned and suppressed a laugh. "It's the beginning of La Resistance. The fighting here in Vermillion is nothing compared to what lies in Celadon. If you thought civilians fighting in Sinnoh were bad, you're in for a treat."
She gulped as the three escorts burst in.
Hey, guys! I'm gonna take a break from Vengeance for a bit so that I can work on a new oneshot!
Reviews are always appreciated, and thanks for reading!
-Chinsky