Green opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling of his bunk. His face was blank but his eyes were tired. Today was the day, the day the war officially starts. Two weeks ago, he got assigned to Crystal's team alongside Red, Blue and Yellow. Today they will be getting their first mission and he was extremely anxious. Not even 1 year passed since he joined the army and he was already going to war. But it could have been worse. He could have been like those cadets that got the last month of basics shuffled inside 1 week.

With a sigh he rolled out of bed and started dressing. Like always he was the last to wake up, with Red going to the mess hall at 4 and Ruby and Gold going to the deposit at 5. It was funny, when they were cadets, he was always the first to wake up, next being Ruby and last Red. Gold always got woken up by Sapphire. After he got dressed up, he went to mess hall and found Blue serving food with Red, like always. Except this time, there were two others with them, Jasmine and Chili, if he recalled correctly. He took his tray and went in line to get his food.

When he reached Blue, the noisy lieutenant greeted him loudly. "Morning Greeny!"

"Morning..." said Green.

"Are you ready for your first mission?" she asked quietly as she put 2 fried eggs on his plate with some burnt bacon.

Green raised an eyebrow at her tone. "I guess? Have you been on missions before?"

Blue sighed. "Yes, a lot. Most of them just solo missions though, it's been a while since I was put on a team..."

Green saw her sad expression and decided to change subject. And what better way to change the subject then pick on her poor cooking skills? "Geez Blue, does the bacon always have to be burnt? It's like you're trying to give us indigestion."

Blue looked at him surprised before she burst out laughing. "Wh-wehehell Greeny, I'll have you know that Red was the one that burned the bacon, so if you want to blame anyone on your indigestion, blame him."

"Hey!" protested Red, which only provoked more laughter from the lieutenant. Green smirked at her reaction then picked his tray to go to Ruby's table.

Ruby was bickering with Sapphire, nothing new there, while Gold was annoying Silver. Again nothing new there. Meanwhile Green found his worry about the mission disappear as he thought about Blue's laugh.

...

After breakfast, Silver made his way to meeting room. There he would be handed his team's assignment. As he entered the hall he found himself sweat dropping. Before him stood a long line of colonels/ lieutenant colonels. It seemed he wasn't the only one that wanted a mission.

While he waited, Silver thought about his wife. His happy-go-lucky Lyra. He talked to her last week and she told him how she missed him. And that he better come back to her in one piece or she will personally kill him. He could literally hear the pout as she said that.

God how much he misses her. He didn't want to admit it, but since he meet her, his life has become brighter. Before, when he was on leave, he would come home to an empty apartment. Now his sunny wife would greet him with a billion kisses before he even has a chance to put his coat down.

He knew his job was dangerous, he knew that war meant there was chance he won't be coming back to her, but condemn him to hell if he won't try. He will survive this war, he will win it and then will stay by her side until the very end. And who knows? Maybe a kid or two...

He wasn't really worried about her, should something happen. He knew she could defend herself, after all he's seen her with a gun. She was an amazing police officer. If she came to the army, he had no doubt she could at least make it to sergeant major. But the city life suited her better.

While he was used to the harsh environment of the forts, his wife was better at surviving inside concrete jungle. He was terrible at directions inside a city, his wife could find anything in less then 4 minutes. He can fix a leak and cook, his wife can barely replace a lightbulb and set the kitchen on fire multiple times. They balance each other out.

Sure they weren't perfect, she was clumsy and wore her heart on her sleeve, he was paranoid and sometimes cold. But nothing mattered when they were together. They loved each other, completed each other. The world seemed brighter when they were together.

Now I only need to survive this war... Thought Silver as he picked up his mission description.

...

Inside deposit 3, a golden eyed sergeant was talking animatedly with a red eyed corporal. They were both talking about the upcoming missions they were going to take part in. They have been busy all day long, since a lot of soldiers requested ammunition.

"So Ruby, I heard you're moving to a new fort?" said Gold.

"Yeah, Silver got a mission today near Whirl Islands, in that naval base. Fort Olivine." said Ruby.

"Uh, Isn't run by that old man Drake Easton or something?"

"Yeah, heard he's really harcore."

"Why did he even sent you to a naval base, it's not like you have any training on naval battles."

"No, but there's bound to be some battles on land, and I guess that's why we're going alongside some other teams."

"Aw man, now who am I going to annoy with both you and silver gone?"

Ruby rolled his eyes. He bent down and picked up a box of ak47s. "I don't know, maybe not annoy anyone?"

Gold was about to retort when Colonel Roxanne Angoza entered the deposit with a tiny list. Behind her stood a girl with short black hair and blue eyes, with dark colored skin. She wore blue camo, indicating she came from the Navy, she also had a bright pink flower behind one of her ears.

"Hello Sergeant Hanamura, Corporal Mikoto. This is Commander Phoebe Eliades, from Fort Olivine and we came here for the amunition for their base." said Roxanne.

"Oh, of course, we have them them ready, just let us get them out." said Ruby while Gold went to the back and yelled at Morty to, and I quote, "Wake the fuck up you lazy ass!", to help move some of the ammunition in the trucks. Pearl also tagged along.

After they moved the ammunition inside the trucks, Ruby got to talk a bit with Phoebe about Fort Olivine and then they all went to eat lunch. Ruby took his food, nasty smelling tomato soup and made his way towards Green's table. He took a seat between him and Pearl and started eating his food, while Gold talked with Black.

"Man, there's been so many different forts requesting ammunition lately, today I had both Olivine and Fortree request equipment." whined Gold.

"I'm not surprised, Fort Nimbasa is one of the 3 major shipping forts." said Platina.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

"The forts around our country have different functions. There are spying, naval, shipping, aerial, medical and a few other. We currently have 3 major shipping forts: Fort Nimbasa, Fort Petalburg in the middle of Petalburg Woods and Fort Celadon near Violet City. Those 3 have a few minor shipping forts in subordination. Fort Sandgem being one of them." answered Platina.

"Huh, thats neat." said Gold.

"So, what kind of fort was Viridian?" asked White.

"Testin, its a testin fort." said Sapphire, attracting everyone's attention. "Testin forts are usually located near, if not in tha middle of a desert. Weapons come there for testin, obviously. Tha new prototypes are sent directly from tha capital, Lumiose and we sent them back so they can adjust them. Regia has 2 testin forts: Fort Viridian and Fort Hau'oli in tha middle of the Haina Desert. There used to be a third one, Fort Castelia near tha Desert Resort, but it got disbanded after some crazy accident."

"Wow, that's way cooler than what Sandgem's doing." said Pearl.

"Yeah, but Sandgem is really important too, since without it, the north and the Alolan islands would be left without ammunition. Every base is important in its own way." said Yellow.

...

Today, April 7 was the day that 3 quarters of the teams from Fort Nimbasa got sent to their respective forts. Crystal got sent back to Viridian, since her team knew the terrain better, Silver and Colonel Roxanne Angoza went to Fort Olivine with Lieutenant Colonel Eliades while Gold remained in Nimbasa. Weirdly enough, Major General Sakaki transferred into Nimbasa. All the other generals went back to their respective forts( except for Elesa who was Nimbasa's general), but not this guy, he changed his fort.

What was even weirder was that Giovanni suddenly gained an interest in him. He came to visit him at the deposit a lot of days and even ate lunch with him once, he really couldn't understand why. What he could understand was why Oak didn't like him. This man gave the aura of a politician. The type of person that talked sweet and was charismatic, but was probably gonna stab you in the back.

Usually people like him kissed the ass of higher ups to get to the top, yet here he was wasting his time with a mere sergeant. And he wasn't the only one that got "special treatment" from the General. Pearl, Diamond and a few other low ranking officers got visited by him.

It really didn't sit well with Gold.

...

Ruby's first reaction when he stepped foot in the base was: what the hell have I gotten myself into? When his father told him to join the army he, obviously said no. He doesn't want to do the same thing as his father. Then he heard his childhood best friend was a soldier and suddenly he recklessly applied for the army alongside his college roomate, Gold. By sheer luck he found his old friend, Sapphire, but what do you know, she didn't remember him. His plan was to tell her after graduating the basics and quit. But then he became friends with Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and Crystal. He fell in love with with his life at the fort and found himself unable to quit. He also chickened out when he was supposed to tell her who he was, but that wasn't important.

Sure it wasn't easy, it was dangerous and he got the first taste of the life of a soldier when the Viridian Base got attacked. But pure masochism made him stay, even after all of that. He stood and worked with his friends to rebuild the base and he stood with them when they transferred to Nimbasa. Sure their little gang might be scattered for now, but they will survive and see eachother again and laugh together again. All 9 of them.

So yes, life in the army was hard, dangerous and deadly. But it was also beautiful in a morbid way...