And so, after that nightmarish night, word traveled to the capital that the terrorist have attacked the Whirl Islands and that the attack was thankfully a complete failure. This as a whole was good news, as it meant they didn't lose men, but it also marked the beginning of the war from the combat standpoint. So the Field Marshal, Diantha ordered more weapons to be send to the testing forts, Fort Viridian and Fort Hau'oli to be tested and some forts already started the missions, like Fort Mistralton, the aerial fort near Fort Celadon. But that's not important right now, what is important is that Silver is stressed and currently regretting his life choices.

Why? Well there's a war going, what did you expect? Global warming? NO! It's the looming threat of death. Yes things went well at the Whirl Islands, Sapphire both survived and got promoted, but a lot of the islands' supplies got destroyed so now they needed to send more. Also, soldiers died and the KIA needed to be sent home and replaced. Couldn't keep an island unprotected just because someone died. It's cold but that's the nature of war, there is no time for feelings.

And who do you think it's in charge of replacements? Silver. Who has to deal with not being taken seriously because he's one of the outsiders in a naval fort(which by the way is stupid, he did basics at Fort Cinnabar, a naval base, doesn't matter that he doesn't know how to drive a boat, Feraligatr is faster anyway)? Silver. And who hasn't received a letter from the love of his life in almost a month, which kinda worries him, Lyra why aren't you answering me-

Point is...Things aren't exactly going well for Silver. And god...these officers are so stupid. Why did they put him in charge of things if they don't plan on listening to him anyways? Oh wait...they didn't, Drake did, because he trust his judgement. Yet he still put a bunch of incompetent idiots to work with him...what is wrong with this base...

The only person who didn't make him miserable was Commander Phoebe Eliades, who, bless her soul, was acting as the peacemaker between him and Drake's direct subordinates. You'd think he'd be done with this bullshit once Archie got demoted, but no such luck. Apparently this place was just full of lunatics. Oh how he envies Roxanne, she's only in charge of the sniper towers. In fact, all of the transfers are in charge of things around the actual base, but not Silver. No he's in charge of the Whirl Islands, so he has to work with these idiots...Just...Palkia he's so done...

Right now he was in the middle of writing the reports when Phoebe entered his office. She was carrying a stack of paper, no doubt more reports from the Whirl Islands that he needed to revise and send to Drake. And- oh great, her Dusknoir was also carrying 2 more stacks, wonderful. This paperwork just seems to be never ending doesn't it... Phoebe gave him a somewhat apologetic look as she dropped the reports before stiffly saluting.

"Sir! Commander Phoebe Eliades reporting: the trucks containing supplies have just arrived a few hours ago from Fort Nimbasa and Lieutenant Commander Siebold Bellegrade has arrived with some of his crew to take the supplies back to the islands."

"Understood, I'll make sure to write my report on it. Dismissed." said Silver, but the female soldier did not leave.

"I was also told to inform you of a certain individual's arrival." and just as he was about to ask who she meant, the door to his office was kicked open. The moment he saw the camo colored bow and heard the string of curses, he knew...he knew that his headaches were about to get way worse.

"Ayy Silver, get yo molty ass up and gimme a hug!" said Sapphire, her arms spread wide open. "I just got promoted, it's the least ya could do!"

Silver let out a long suffering sigh before getting up and hugging the small ball of rage and energy he calls his friend. "Good to see you too Sapphire, heard you had a fun tango with death just the other week."

The demonic Officer Cadet laughed maniacally before saying: "And I crushed that dance off. Even got Walo back too...How've you been doing? Heard Ruby's been eating dirt a few days ago." And so Phoebe took it as her cue to leave the 2 friends alone, as she quietly left Silver's office.

Silver snorted. "Quite the opposite actually. He made someone else eat the dirt."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, looks like he put your training to good use." The redhead told her everything he knows about the "OB-66 parking lot fistfight" as the base has come to call it. Nobody knows who named it that, but Silver suspects it was Brawly Mozuru, one of Ruby's bunkmates. Anyway the gist of it is that, Ruby has been keeping a small box of trinkets from home and Fort Viridian (containing a small plastic mic from his pokemon contest days as a kid, his mother's red earrings, a screw from his cadet bed back at Viridian, a nice bracelet gifted to him by Yellow and Blue on his birthday and the first bullet he ever fired from a gun in the training grounds) and Matt Matthew, another one of Ruby's bunkmates, has accidentally spilled the contents of Ruby's box, resulting in the loss of the earrings. Now normally Ruby was a calm man, who understood that accidents happen, however...Matt has not only been annoying Ruby since he came to this base, but also refused to apologize and said it was Ruby's fault for keeping such "useless things". And so, our little albino hat Corporal snapped and proceed to throw himself at Matt and clobbered that bastard. Of course the fight itself wasn't that easy, with Matt being 4 times Ruby's size, but that turned out to be in Ruby's favour, as his small size allowed him to evade most of Matt's punches. In the end the fight has to be broken out when Ruby started repeatedly shoving Matt's face into the mud puddle outside. As punishment both the brawlers had to wash the bathrooms of the base with toothbrushes for the next month, daily and Matt got moved to OB-61 and in his place came Pearl.

After this, the 2 talked a bit more, with Sapphire explaining to Silver how she single handedly drained her teammates wallet on poker. Eventually they made their way to the mess hall where Siebold's crew would eat dinner, before heading back to the Whirl Islands in the dark of the night.

...

Right now, this very second, at 8:35 pm, June 3, Ruby is dying. Of embarrassment. Because Silver the goddamn traitor...told Sapphire about the "OB-66 parking lot fistfight" and now she just won't stop laughing.

"Bwahaha, look at ya, tiny soldier. Ya look like someone gave ya a bad lip injection." said Sapphire as she pinched his cheek and ridiculed his split lip. "I can't believe you fucking went feral!"

"Uhhh...please...for the love of Glastrier...shut up!" exclaimed Ruby as his forehead hit the table. Sapphire just laughed more in response with Pearl, as a slightly amused Platina patted Ruby's back. Silver just watched the whole exchange in silence and pretended not to see Ruby's begging expression.

...

Later, after Sapphire finally left to the Whirl Islands, after the tons of paperwork were done and when most of the base slept, Silver finally reached his barrack. The place only had 2 beds( higher rank meant privileges) one for him and one for Jeremy , a small desk that they needed to share and some old dirty rug brought in as a joke. Jeremy was surprisingly still awake, playing with his set of tarot cards and humming a sea song.

"Good evening Silver!" said the man way too cheerfully for the late hour.

"Mmm...evening..."

"These letters came for you earlier today." said Jeremy as he tilted his head towards a small stack of letters. "Looks like your wife finally wrote you back, so you can stop sulking now..."

With a mumbled "...wasn't sulking..." he picked up the letters and started reading them. Most were just small stories about the daily, new case, complaining about the mailman being broken ("The mailman can't get broken Lyra, they only take vacation..." he wrote back to her) and not being able to write to him and how she is starving without him home ("Ramen noodles just don't cut it anymore Silv"), which prompted him to scold her to eat healthier.

Then the last letter is what effectively broke him. It wasn't much just 4 words and a picture. Four words and a picture that turned his world upside down and made him want to cry and scream in happiness.

"Darling, I am pregnant." and a picture of her in front of the mirror with a 4 months swollen belly.