Chapter Seven: The Powder Keg

Castelia City, Unova Region, 0900:

Within the halls of the Regional Capitol building, there was only a dreadful silence until the sounds of running footsteps pierced its halls. A government worker, carrying in his hands the papers detailing the appalling attack on Nuvema Town, sprinted as fast as he could to the office of the Regional Governor. Finally reaching the large, oak wood doors, he swung them open and ran inside.

"Governor, ma'am!" he yelled out, panting and out of breath.

The Governor had her back to the worker. She was staring blankly at the tv screen behind her desk. On it was the news crews showing the destroyed and burnt out town that had used to be Nuvema. Laying in rows, covered in white sheets, was the bodies of the victims of the gruesome attack. The Governor watched in mourning. Not a single word was exchanged as her tears broke free over her lost people. Behind her, sitting on her desk, was a shiny Eevee. The small Pokemon looked to her master, then took a quick glance to the television before resuming her meticulous cleaning of herself.

"How bad?" finally escaped her lips, barely audible even in the quiet room.

The worker swallowed, then flipped through his papers. He took a few steps forward to place them on her desk, but stopped when the Governor waved him off. He halted, looking to her before answering.

"The death toll is still being counted... but is estimated to be nearly the entire population of Nuvema." he said, his eyes low as he spoke. "There have been a few survivors found, though, and I have confirmed that Professor Juniper is still alive, but in critical condition after being shot."

The Governor sighed, then choked up. She leaned her head back against her chair, then straightened at her blue jacket.

"Thank God then," she said. "I am thankful for those who survived, and for the Professor..."

She turned back to the tv, which was still showing images of the assault. Another question that had been burning in her mind then popped up once more.

"Who did this?" she asked her worker. Her eyes now burned with anger and a look of vengeance.

"W-we don't know just yet, ma'am, but I assure that we are-," he said before being interrupted.

The large oak doors swung open once more. This time, though, an officer with the Unova Defense Force moved in. Each step carried with it the weight of anger and determination. The officer, wearing his dress uniform that was decorated with several polished medals and ribbons brushed passed the worker and stopped in front of the Governor's desk. On his chest, just opposite of his awards was his name plate, Black. On each of the officer's shoulders, was his rank pins. Four silver stars sat on each shoulder. General.

"Governor, ma'am." General Black began as he straightened his stance, "I think we may have figured out who our attackers are..."

He retrieved a remote from his pocket, aiming it at the television behind the governor. She spun in her chair to see what he was going to show her as the screen faded to black, and then displayed something new.

It was photos, taken by security cameras around traffic lights and retrieved from the ruins of local businesses. They were pictures of the attackers. Black and gray uniforms, with no markings of any kind. Brandishing their weapons, some aiming and firing them in a few of the photos. The Governor shook her head.

"I don't understand," she said gesturing to the screen, "How can you figure who these monsters are based on this?"

General Black smirked slightly, then stepped around her desk as he clicked a few buttons on his remote. With those clicks, one of the more clear photos of the mysterious grunts zoomed in on him. In particular, it zoomed in on his rifle. The General paused, then pointed to the steel and polymer weapon.

"Right there is how I know," he said with confidence.

The Governor shook her head, not understanding. She knew nothing about firearms, so his vague attempt went quickly over her head. The General, though, figured as much, and was prepared to show and explain it better.

"That, ma'am, is a Type-89...," General Black explained, "We here in Unova use the M4A1 as our standard issue rifle."

"Now," he continued as he waved his finger in the air, "Most regions use different weapons. We share a rifle with Alola. Kalos uses the FAMAS, Galar the L85, Kanto and Johto both share the outdated Type 64...but..."

He then pressed another button to show another picture. This time, it was not a photo of one of the attackers of Nuvema. This one instead showed a platoon of soldiers standing in formation, holding their rifles across their chests. When the Governor saw it, her eyes widened. The connection was instantly made, and a lump formed in her throat as feelings of betrayal and great sadness filled her.

General Black saw it in her eyes that she understood what he was saying now, but he finished his words as he pointed to the soldiers and their weapons.

"Only one region uses the Type-89..." he said as his eyes glared at the soldiers in the photo. "Only one place that the monsters who attacked us could have gotten those rifles...,"

He took a breath and finally finished with gritted teeth.

"Sinnoh."

Inside the Restricted Zone, North of Route 212, Sinnoh Region, 0230 hours:

A small, dim flash of light appeared deep in the forest. The Gardevoir, now with the name Celestial, given to her by the human, allowed herself the faintest small. She had just left the soldier to resume his slumber, and had decided to do so herself. Her heart elevated with joy as she felt pure happiness in the two's engagement. She took a quick look around at the trees surrounding her, then began floating towards her family's home.

The Embrace Pokemon could feel her parent's and sister's presence in the cave where they lived as she got closer, then was caught off guard when the emotions of her parent's suddenly changed. While her sister was asleep by what she could tell, her parents were both awake...and anger was pouring from her father, coupled with extreme worry from her mother.

Celestial nearly began to teleport away, suddenly fearful for what her parent's reaction was going to be, but it was too late. Her body glowed in a dim, blue light, a psychic grasp from her mother held her tight and refused to let her go. Her father, a Gallade named Pateras, with dark green accents, slowly walked out of the cave's opening. He turned his head ever so slowly until his eyes met with hers. Anger, fear and disappointment was all mixed in his heart as he approached his daughter. Just behind him, her mother, named Grace, also emerged from the cave. Fear and worry dominated her emotions and flowed like a river from her heart.

Her father took several more steps towards her, his questions then poured into her thoughts.

Where was she?

What was she doing so late?

What was she thinking worrying her parents?

The questions were not words, but instead emotions and thoughts of actions, accompanied by inquisitive feelings. They all slammed into Celestial's mind all at once, and they overwhelmed her. She tried her best not to reveal what she had been doing, but her own brain betrayed her. Images of her meeting the human soldier came forth in response to her father's interrogation.

The images of her and the human kneeling in the small, human-dug hole. Memories of her with him by the pond. They flowed for just a fraction of a second, but it was enough for her parents to see. Both of them was shocked, and the feelings of fear amplified from her mother.

Are you crazy?

Why are you interacting with a human?

They'll take you from us!

We warned you about this!

The thoughts pounded into her mind, assaulting her thoughts. It was all too much for her. At first, her mind was dominated by regret for worrying and angering her parents, but it was soon replaced with instead anger towards her mother and father. How dare they try to control her any further? She's fully evolved, and is more than capable of caring for herself!

"STOP!" she screamed out. Her chest was heaving from the outburst. She was holding each side of her face, squeezing her head as if to try to push out her parent's telepathic voices.

Pateras visibly recoiled from her outburst, but stood firm. He was not going to let his daughter defy him or his mate. What they knew about the humans, they knew they would take her away from them if given the chance. Grace choked up from the outburst, emotionally hurt by her daughter's defiance. She floated closer to Celestial, but paused when her daughter charged a ball of shadow energy.

"Stay away..." Celestial said, now with tears building in her eyes.

She didn't mean to threaten her parents, but her emotions caused her to accidentally charge the attack. When she realized she was holding the shadow ball, she dissipated it, then simply began to back away.

Celestial then filled her parents' minds with images of herself with the human, and even revealed his name to them. She accompanied the thoughts with feelings of trusting, and confirmations of him not wanting to capture her.

Pateras shook his head, then replied with thoughts of the human using a pokeball on her, stating that no human could be trusted. This only brought Celestial's anger back. Her frustrations with her parents finally reached its peak.

"Wrong about them!" she yelled "This one not same."

She poured out images that showed that had the human wanted to take her, then he already would have. She was done, though. She was done with her parents' overthinking and fears of the world outside their forest. Celestial came to a decision.

With one final look at her parents, she swallowed, then concentrated her mind. With a flash of dim light, she was gone. Her mother broke down crying, terrified for her daughter. Pateras slumped, his anger gone, replaced with only worry. He turned to Grace and embraced her, trying to comfort his mate. From the cave, the small Kirlia had watched the entire exchange after being awoken by her elder sister's yelling. She didn't move from her spot, and was fighting back tears. She soon failed, and began sobbing.

"Sis!" The Kirlia yelled out desperately, breaking down into tears.

In the distance, Celestial could barely hear her sister, but could feel the breaking heart of the smaller Pokemon. She clutched the fin sticking from her chest, then wiped her tears away. Her parents was wrong about the humans. They couldn't all be as bad as they warned, and she was going to prove it to them with this one.

Inside the Restricted Zone, North of Route 212, Sinnoh Region, 0500 hours:

The early morning sun began to peek just above the horizon and between the brush and trees. The chirps and cries of the local Starly could be heard in the trees, accompanied by the cries of Budew and even the occasional Kricketune. Eric awoken, stretching for just a moment before rolling to look out of his tent. Letting out a yawn, he finally sat up to get ready.

"Let's get going soldiers!" Sergeant Burke could be heard yelling. He was already wide awake and fully dressed for the day. He wore the standard-issue vest, with one hand shoved into his pocket while the other held a burnt-out cigar near his mouth.

"Rise and shine! Get up and move to the breakfast chow line!" he finished, biting back down onto the cigar as he turned towards the chow truck that had parked in the small clearing in the center of Bravo Squad's defensive positions.

At the mention of food, Eric's stomach churned with hunger. He didn't realize how hungry he had been the last few days, considering the fact that the only times he was allowed to eat anything was chow times, and even then he felt that the amount of food served was not enough. Regardless, he salivated slightly at the thought of the lukewarm scrambled eggs and reheated bacon that the Defense Force would be serving from the back of the government-owned pickup truck. He quickly pulled on his boots, then threw on his vest and grabbed his helmet. Standing up, he snatched his rifle into his other hand, then took off towards the clearing as he slung the weapon.

"Mornin' Sarge," Eric called out to Burke as he passed, receiving a nod from his NCO.

"Good mornin' Private Hahn," Burke responded passed his cigar, "Hope you got as good of sleep as you could, because we got some attacking to do after chow."

"Yes, Sergeant, roger Sergeant!" Eric yelled back without stopping.

He slowed down as he reached the line to get food, then came to a stop at the end of it. A moment passed, then he felt the familiar presence of a dear friend.

"Good morning Joe," Eric said, turning to face his childhood friend.

He was met with the flashy grin of Joseph, who clapped Eric in the shoulder.

"What's up man?" Joe said with a chuckle, "Sleep well?"

Eric shrugged, tilting his head briefly.

"Alright I guess," he responded. "About as good as i could given the hard ground."

Joe grinned wider, "It ain't so bad, it could be a lot worse. I mean, one time we was doing one of these war games at Iron Island, and we had to sleep in-,"

Eric heard his friend stop talking immediately. As he turned to see why, he felt another presence directly next to him.

It was her. The Gardevoir was suddenly right next to Eric, startling everyone in the clearing. Joe took several steps back quickly, followed by everyone else waiting in line as they all caught on quick to the Embrace Pokemon's sudden appearance. Eric felt his heart drop slightly. Why is she here? Here and now of all times! His thoughts raced.

The Gardevoir had her eyes closed and her head tilted slightly back, as if to be defiant in front of the humans being there. Her hands were clasped behind her back, with her white dress flowing lightly in the breeze. A murmur could be heard coming from the human soldiers.

"Is that a Gardevoir?" one soldier could be heard asking another.

"What is it doing here?" another quietly said.

"Is it Hahn's?" one more could be heard just barely.

Indeed, it appeared as if the Pokemon could have been Eric's. He was the only human that did not clear a three meter space around the psychic-type. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat, not knowing what to do. He stared at her for what seemed like forever. He was mesmerized by her looks, but also frozen in fear for what could happen to him since it was already obvious that he and this Pokemon had been socializing. The Gardevoir could sense this, and sent feelings of calming to his mind, as if she was telling him it would be ok. She did this without changing her posture or facial expression at all. It was as if she was a porcelain statue.

Eric cleared his throat, then turned back to the chow truck, seeing that everyone's eyes were on him. He tried to ignore them, stepping forward as if he was still in a line. At once, Celestial floated forward as well, still perfectly at his side.

"What are you doing here?" Eric whispered in desperation, trying to move his mouth as little as possible.

No verbal response from the Pokemon, but instead another wave of calming from her, followed by images and feelings that she just simply wanted to be near him, with no caring of what other humans would think or say. this only served to rise a small panic on the soldier, who could now see Sergeant Burke approaching from the corner of his eye.

"Private Hahn, who might this be?" the sergeant was now a mere meter from the pair. "I thought orders were clear to leave any and all of your personal Pokemon back at home."

He didn't stare into Eric's eyes with anger, but of merely a stern 'you know the rules'-look. Eric straightened up at the voice of his squad leader, then responded.

"She isn't my Pokemon, Sergeant," he said, "This Gardevoir is wild and found me the other night and initiated contact with me. She seems to just have an interest in me, Sergeant."

His words earned some snickering and stifled laughs from a few of the soldiers there. He tried his best to remain motionless as his squad leader looked him up and down, then briefly to the Gardevoir next to him. Celestial finally opened her eyes, revealing her bright red irides to the humans. Without turning her head, she locked eyes with what was clearly Eric's tribal leader. The tribal system the humans had in place intrigued her, and she was interested to learn more about it.

Burke glared into the pupil-less eyes of the Embrace Pokemon, then sighed, placing his hands on his hips.

"You know the rules, Hahn," he said, looking back at Eric, "You are not to interfere with the local wildlife. I understand that this Pokemon may have approached you, but you know better and know what your orders are."

The younger soldier swallowed again, and felt a bead of sweat run down his temple. He was afraid for whatever punishment his Sergeant would give him, but was surprised at his next words. The veteran soldier bit down hard on his cigar, resuming his words through closed teeth.

"You are to try not to interact with this Pokemon, nor any other for that matter, for the remainder of this war game." he said, looking down as he kicked the toe of his boot against the ground. "But I cannot control what this Gardevoir does. I highly suggest that it stays out of the way, if it is going to be staying near us."

Celestial allowed herself to show the slightest of grins to the elder human. She felt elation at her small victory, sending the feelings of success to the younger human standing next to her. As the Sergeant finished his words, he turned and stepped away, waving his hand in the air.

"Twenty minutes, soldiers!" he yelled out, breaking everyone from their trances of the events before them. As he yelled, they reformed the line.

"Twenty minutes, then it's back to business! Private Hahn, eat fast and report to the northern fox hole. That'll be your home for the next twelve hours."

Eric nodded, muttering, "Yes, Sergeant.", as a flood of relief came over him.

He moved through the line fairly quickly, failing to not notice that him and his new psychic companion was now the center of attention for the squad. The prying stares were impossible to ignore, and the ramblings of the soldiers became more and more directed at the pair, even as Eric merely tried to sit in the grass and eat.

"Hey Hahn, get lonely in the woods?" one soldier said with a smirk, followed by laughing.

"I've been desperate before, Hahn, but damn!" another jeered, accompanied by more laughter.

"You said it was a 'she'. How do you know that? You doin' some deep 'research' to find that out?" a third joined in, followed by the loudest fit of laughter from the soldiers around him.

"Hey, fuck off, all of ya!" Joe yelled out to the other soldiers, "You all wish you guys could be so good to catch a Pokemon just with your mere presence. Just jealous, the lot of you!"

Joe plopped down next to his friend, giving a pissed off look to the others in the squad. Once their jeering subsided, and their attentions turned back to their food, Joe shook his head and looked to Eric, who was now merely poking around at his eggs.

"Ignore them, man," Joe said, shoving a slice of bacon into his mouth. "Gotta ask, though, how did you meet her?"

Eric shrugged.

"She came to me," he responded, looking towards where the Gardevoir was hovering.

The psychic Pokemon was in the distance, seemingly inspecting and admiring the transport trucks that had brought them to this forest. She was lightly brushing her green, three-fingered hands against the sides of the truck, looking with awe at the OD-green steel vehicle.

Joe watched her as well for several minutes, letting out a slight chuckle.

"Well," he said, finishing his last bite. "You found yourself quite the curious one. She seems like she'd never been around humans ever."

Eric nodded in silence, then finished his food as well. As the two stood, they both noticed that the Gardevoir had stiffened up. Before either was able to say anything about it, the Embrace Pokemon suddenly turned towards the treeline, sending feelings of fear and worry to Eric.

"What's wro-," Eric began to ask out loud, but then eruption of gunfire roared to life a hundred meters into the trees.

All the soldiers of Bravo immediately jumped to their feet, grabbing their rifles and chambering the stun rounds. They scrambled for cover and took aim at the trees.

Eric found himself sprinting towards the nearest transport truck, taking cover just behind it. Within a split second, Celestial appeared at his side, with sheer fear emanating from her.

Evil! Evil approaches! The Gardevoir tried her best to communicate to the human, but Eric only glanced at her with confusion at the indecipherable language that Celestial was trying to telepathically speak to him. She palmed herself on the head lightly, remembering that humans couldn't understand her native tongue. Her brain scrambled to try to come up with a way to convey her message, but then another human came sprinting from the trees, screaming.

"Run!" the soldier screamed, who was covered in blood. All the soldiers of Bravo looked with both expressions of confusion and worry at the soldier.

"Run away!" he screamed again, holding what looked to be an injured arm. "Get away! We're under attack! They're using live round-"

He was unable to finish his last sentence as a bullet whizzed from the trees and holed his skull. The soldier dropped without a further sound.

"What the fuck!" Joe yelled out.

Eric's eyes widened at the dead soldier. His heart was now pounding hard in his chest, and he could even feel immense fear emanating from the Gardevoir kneeling next to him. Celestial never seen anything die, let alone something die so violently. She began to feel a cold sweat.

Gunfire erupted from the trees, immediately dropping three soldiers of Bravo squad. The remaining seventeen soldiers returned fire with their stun rounds, not remembering in the moment that their ammunition was useless in an actual fight. Over the booms and cracks of the rifles, Sergeant Burke could be heard yelling out as he waved his arm to the trees behind the squad.

"Retreat! Fall back!" he screamed.

At once, all the soldiers of Bravo took off running to the treeline away from the enemy. Eric could see puffs of dirt around him as bullets smacked into the ground near his feet as he ran, but then felt himself turn momentarily weightless. The flash of an instant later, he was in the treeline with Joe and the Gardevoir. The two humans were huffing from exhaustion from their sprint before they was teleported, then turned to look back at the others as they ran. Two more of their fellow squad mates screamed out as bullets ripped into them, then they dropped without another sound. The rest sprinted as fast as they could in their retreat to the safety of the trees.

"What the hell is happening?" Joe asked in a panic.

Eric shook his head, clenching his teeth.

"I have no idea... but it isn't the start of anything good," he responded.

As the grunts of Team Galactic watched the cowardly soldiers run away, one of them stepped forward into the open to get a better view. Her hands were behind her back as a sickening grin formed across her face. The sun glinted off her bright-red hair as she came to a stop in the clearing. Scanning the treeline ahead of her, she waved her men forward to continue engaging the pathetic soldiers of the Sinnoh Defense Force.

Slowly, the grunts advanced, taking their time and walking into the open. As they walked passed their commander, Mars smiled even wider as her dreams were finally in motion.

"The fall of Sinnoh has begun...," she said lowly, "And the world is hopeless to stop us."