Author's Note: Hello everyone! I promise you that I have not forgotten any of this, and I hope that none of you have given up hope that I would finish this. I made a promise to complete this rendition of this story, and I will see it to its end. My life has gotten very busy once again, with the welcoming of a new child into my life and a big move into a new home.

But anyways, without further ado, on with the story...

Chapter 5: Birth of a Vengeful Soul

Unknown location, Sinnoh Region:

There was still much to do deep inside the Team Galactic Base, but it has been decided that today would be the day to push into motion the beginnings of their ultimate plan. Dim, white lights lit up the area inside. Transport helicopters idly and slowly spun their rotors as they squatted on their lift elevators. Crates and boxes of supplies were stacked and otherwise scattered throughout the cavernous room. Within the underground hangers, members of Team Galactic also ran around, trying to get everything ready for their moment. Many of them were gathering into formations, awaiting their respective commanders. One group stood perfectly still with their group commander standing in front of them, waiting for the order to board the transport elevator that would take them to the surface.

As they waited, several other Galactic members slowly walked by. Only one of them glanced over at the grunts. She was shorter than most of them, with fiery-red hair and burning eyes. She had her hands behind her back with a stern sneer across her face. With a dismissive glance, she huffed to herself and continued on through an automatic steel door, leaving the hanger.

"Damn...she looks like a bitch," said one of the grunts quietly.

"Yeah, and she struts around as if she owns the place," lowly said another.

The grunt commander at the front of the formation quickly snapped his eyes to the pair of grunts that said that. His mouth instantly curled into a tight frown as he stared daggers into the two.

"Both of you...shut your mouths," he sneered, "That was Commander Mars, second only to Jupiter and Cyrus himself!"

The two grunts that said those words had their eyes widen suddenly. They just both realized that they had unknowingly spoke disrespect of one of the top commanders of their Team. One felt a slight bead of sweat run down his neck while the other shuddered.

"Y-you can't be serious, right sir?" one asked weakly. "But she doesn't look-"

"I said shut it!" the group commander now yelled out, his voice still drowned out in the distance by the commotion going on in the hanger.

He sighed, glancing around him to ensure that no attention was brought to his group. The commander then stepped forward, eyeing each of his grunts.

"That was Mars." he began, "She may not look like much, but I assure you that she is everything that you've heard of. She's a genius... full of hatred and vengence... and it's all because of what happened to her in the Great War..."

The Galactic members could only stare at their commander. Some grew wide-eyed, leaning in to hear what next he had to say. The group commander swallowed, being fearful as to the words he was about to speak, as it was rare for anyone to say anything of Mars's past, let alone know what had actually happened to make her into the woman she was to this day.

"Mars has true skill in both Pokemon battles and in warfare among humans," he said, slowly moving his eyes across each member of his formation. "She is murderous by trade and is driven by pure vengeance. The story goes is that she is actually from the Kanto Region, and that her entire family was murdered by a squad of Sinnoh soldiers during the final days of the Great War."

Each member could only imagine the horrors that Mars had seen during those times. Images of entire villages burning to the ground as the Sinnoh Army marched its way across the Kanto Region. It was a torch and burn operation in one town. Burn everything. Destroy everything. Leave nothing for Kanto to be able to recover in the event Sinnoh was driven back out. The soldiers of Sinnoh spared no one on that day. Screams of innocent women and children rang throughout the air as blood shed forth like a thin mist. Artillery shells howled overhead as homes crumbled. Soldiers, their faces hidden behind gas masks, filled homes with deadly gas from their companions. The purplish, rock-shaded Pokemon coughed and wheezed as they expelled their poisons into the air and into craters, driving out any survivors of the artillery strikes. In the corner of one half-collapsed room, a girl sat.

Her knees were pulled tightly to her chest as her bare feet pushed along the dirty floor, desperately trying to close in on herself as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She sobbed uncontrollably as her father bled out mere feet in front of her, his throat slit before he could ever even think to fight back. Her siblings screamed in terror as hounds ablaze in fire tore them to shreds. Her mother begged for mercy, for the soldiers doing unspeakable things to her to spare her last surviving child. Begged them to take her instead, and to leave her be and allow her to freedom.

When the Sinnoh soldiers were finished with their sick games with the girl's mother, they allowed her to crawl to the girl. As the child opened up to grab her injured mother, another beast was summoned forth by one of the soldiers. It was a monster, made of pure shadow. It had a pair of stubby arms and legs and was a dark purple in color, made of pure gas as if it was a ghost. A long, sickening tongue unfolded from its ghastly mouth lined with many teeth as its undead eyes focused on the woman. The Shadow Pokemon made its move as its handlers laughed.

The girl let out a shriek as her last surviving parent was dragged away by the Gengar. Darkness enveloped the area her mother was taken by the monster, only to be pierced by a spray of blood and the noise of gurgling.

The child couldn't take it anymore. She completely broke down, shutting herself down to everything around her. As she looked up from the fresh blood sprayed in front of her, the last thing she saw before being knocked out was the butt of a rifle.

When she had come to, she had already been violated beyond belief, chained to the inside of a troop transport. The soldiers took their turns, each more disgusting than the last. Even the ones who refused to take part, did not stop the horror, and those soldiers the girl thought she hated even more. She had lost track of the time. Had it been days? Weeks? What did it matter anymore? She was going to die a slave.

A blast. Distant, as they always were. Another, but this time closer. Then even closer. The next was right next to the vehicle, blasting it off the road and onto its side. Being chained to the inner walls of the vehicle may had actually saved her life, much to her disappointment. The soldiers in the transports were not so lucky. Most were killed by the explosion and subsequent flipping of the truck. Their bodies twisted and broken like derelict toys.

Footsteps. They was nearing the child. She strained her eyes to see who it was, but her head hurt far too much. Her arm hurt terribly as well, broken maybe. She tried moving, but still felt the chains binding her wrists and ankles. Damn those soldiers!

"A girl, the poor child," a male voice broke forth, followed by a saddened sigh.

The child opened her eyes once more, finally seeing the man standing before her. Her heart leapt in fear at the sight of the creature floating at his side. It was metallic and large. Huge magnets hung from each of its sides, while a central, saucer-shaped main body was present. It has three eyes, with a larger red one in the middle, just below a golden antennae. The Magnezone waved one of its magnets, and the chains holding her down broke free. Even then, though, she only laid still in primal fear.

The man with the Magnezone had a long frown, that which only grew as he studied the broken girl before him. He ran one hand through his silvering hair as he sighed.

"What horrors have these monsters put you through?" the man asked, gently kneeling down before the naked and abused girl. He glanced around at the dead soldiers, even more glad that he had targeted this particular truck.

His eyes moved from the dead soldiers and back to meet the girl's terrified eyes. He gave only a tiny smile, shaking his head.

"It's okay now," he continued removing his jacket and placing around the girl to give her some form of clothing, "Let us get you out of here and to safety."

The child did not want to believe him, but somehow felt in her heart that he meant his words of taking her to safety. She merely nodded, then took his outstretched hand and stood shakily. When her legs gave out, the man caught her, the gently lifted her onto the Magnezone.

"Hush, sweet one," the mysterious man said, cradling her cheek when she winced in pain at her fall, "do not worry no longer. I will take you in and take care of you. You will grow under my lead and learn not to fear no longer."

Mars watched at the man as she adjusted herself on the Magnezone. On his back, he had a rucksack. Removing it from his back, he reached into it and pulled out a blanket. He wrapped the girl in it, replacing his jacket over it all to protect her from the elements.

"W-who, who are you?" Mars said with tears collecting in her eyes.

The man smiled once more.

"My name is Cyrus," he said, "And I promise to protect you from here on out, sweet child."

Everything faded from Mars's mind as her memories ran through her head. Unknowingly to that group commander and his men, she had been standing close and listening to what he had been saying about her. She recollected herself, straightening her Team Galactic uniform as she took the steps to be behind the group commander.

"And that's how she became who she is now," the commander finished his story, unknown that his leader was directly behind him.

The members in the formation were desperately trying to sign to him to shut his mouth as they saw her approach, but it was too late.

"Is that the rumor of my beginnings?" Mars spat out, much to the terror of the group commander.

"Commander Mars, ma'am!" he yelped out, "I-I'm, m-my apologies ma'am!"

Mars walked around to be in front of the man. Her hands were tightly gripped behind her back as she glared daggers into his soul. She could see several bead of sweat run down his face as he realized the grave mistake of speaking of her without permission. After several moments of complete silence, she finally spoke.

"You got a few things wrong...," she said lowly. "I had worse things happen to me than what you described..."

The group commander swallowed nervously, then nodded. Mars squinted her eyes at him, then spun on her heels and stepped off.

"That will be enough gossip. Prepare your men. It is nearing time," she finished, walking away to begin barking orders to the Team Galactic as a whole.

"Yes Ma'am!" The group yelled out at once, saluting her as she walked away.

They all felt a rush of relief run through them, then recollected themselves as they finished preparing for their ultimate mission...

The sparking of a new war amongst the regions, starting with the region that was the center of all of Mars's hatred...

Sinnoh.