"Who are you?"

"..."

"God Damn it, I asked who are you?!"

The human kicked the cage in the middle of the room out of irrational, raging at the fact the creature inside the cage refuses to give him any information on itself, leaving him guessing in the blind. The cast iron cage shook under the force of his kick, but the creature locked inside stood its ground, undaunted by the human's verbal threats, its bright yellow eyes ladened with a few stripes of blue staring right back at the human.

"... You asked me who I am, I have answered that, then you asked what I am, which I also has answered, both with honesty, human. I am unsure of what else you want me to answer." The creature answered with a calm voice, seemingly not worried about his current situation at all.

The human gritted his teeth at its response, "Yes, I know your name, and I know what you are, an Umbreon, is that it? But you have told me nothing what an Umbreon actually is!"

The creature responded with the same tone of voice, smirking a little bit, "...An Umbreon is an Umbreon, what more do you want me to explain? It is much more simpler than you think."

However, the human doesn't seem to be amused by his response, "Grr… You little insolent… If you don't want to do it the easy way, we will do it the hard way." He then turned to another human standing behind him, wearing a white lab coat, "Men, I want a full analysis of this creature on my desk by 0600 sharp! There can be no delay." The scientists saluted him as a form of acknowledgement of his command, satisfied with the arrangement, the human stormed out of the room, leaving Umbreon alone in his cage in the middle of the concrete room, accompanied by only a scientist, who has now headed off to a metal cabinet, preparing something.

The Umbreon sighed out of mild annoyance, this unexpected change of events certainly added unneeded difficulty to his exploration, not to mention all the precious time he wasted by staying here, but again, all of this could have be easily avoided if he wasn't being so careless , he should have been more careful when entering an unknown complex, a heavily fortified one to boot. It is highly unlikely for him to be detected and captured if he is actually paying attention to where he was going, a primitive trap like a pitfall would have no chance of fooling him, but he is attention was divided, distracted by the fact that he might finally meet another intelligent life form after witnessing nothing but barren landscapes, haunted ruins and abandoned city, for weeks upon weeks without end.

The crispy sound of shattering glass brought him back from his mindless wonderings to reality, it seems like the scientist has dropped an empty vial onto the ground, the man cursed himself and proceed to reach for another one, not even bothering to clean up the glass on the ground. The room he is in is essentially a concrete box, the lack of windows and strong smell of mould and sodden earth indicates that he is most likely deep underground, This research laboratory, if it can be called as one at all, since it is incredibly bare in terms of technology and equipments compared to the ones he had seen, everything here could only be described as archaic, like something out of a bad 1950's TV set. The bare lamps above are constantly flickering, casting a eerie glow within the room, like an old movie reel in a theater, threatening to tear itself apart, there are no futuristic looking machinery, no grand plasma screens, no metallic flooring or ceiling… No nothing. Only cold concrete slabs placed down to act as floors, wooden beams that are wedged deep into the surrounding walls, acting as support so the whole thing doesn't collapse onto itself, crude metal tables and benches down one side of the room, piled with vials and beakers, most of them filled to the brim with mysterious liquids of various colouring, giving off an rather irritating smell into the air, a smell that is a mixture of acidic and metallic, an dusty computer lay on one of the tables, its screen is glowing a dim white light, a white arrow is at the end of a chucky paragraph, blinking, waiting for further instructions.

The human scientist, on the other hand, is standing in front of a cabinet, the only one in this room, vigorously preparing for the test that is about to follow. "And… Everything is in order for my further examination of this creature. Hmm… Let me writing down its data first..." The man muttered to himself, unaware of the fact that the Umbreon heard everything he was saying, thanks to his rather large ears. The Umbreon knew he has to act now, before it is too late, he cannot allow any recorded data about him to be left on this world, it is quite clear the Pokemon doesn't exist in this world, records of his existence will cause nothing but panic and fear.

Thankfully, the Umbreon already has a plan in mind, probably not the best course of action in this situation, but it will have to do.

The man turned around, this time with an empty syringe in his hands, "Now, little one, I know you can understand me, none of this is necessary if you would just tell the Sergeant more about your species. I don't see why all the secrecy is needed, we will let you go once we know what we want to know."

"...We all know that is not true, human. I know your species, I know that people like you in human society value knowledge above anything else, human crave for knowledge, they have the desire for knowledge, they wish to know how everything works and why it functions like that, Normally, that is good, but once they begin to crave for knowledge and let it rule your life, they are no different than mindless monsters." He shook his head, "Let us be honest here, human. We both know what would happen after I told you everything I know about me, about my species, you would have taken my blood anyways, then you would continue to experiment on me, perhaps cut me open just to see how everything works? Just because I look different than you doesn't mean I am an simple animal."

The scientist obviously wasn't happy about his remarks as his face grew darker as he listened to the Umbreon continuing on with the little speech of his, "Very well, you left me with no choice, if you truly believe we are monsters, surely I can't disappoint you, can't I? In fact, you just made my job much less… boring, if I should say, you will be a valuable part in my research." He chuckled, and began to slowly approach the Umbreon's cage, one step at a time, attempting to scare him.

However, before he could even take his third step, the Umbreon's eyes suddenly begin to glow with a faint blue light, just like the rings on his body that puzzled every human who had seen him, the scientist took a step back out of horror and caution, "St-Stop! What are you doing!?" He shouted in fear.

"...Just doing what every responsible citizen should do, taking out the trash." He replied in the same soothing voice, as if nothing major is actually happening.

Before the scientist could even mutter a reply, the cabinet which was originally behind him has now came down upon him, knocking him on the head and bringing him to the ground as it smashed into his body, rendering him unconscious, but the the human is not the only thing that fell with the cabinet, the glass laboratory apparatus stored in the cabinet slipped out of their position and crashed into the ground, smashed into a thousand glittering fragments, dancing and scattering all across the floor, someone else is bound to hear that.

Surely enough, a set of footsteps could he heard rushing down the hallway, moments before another human came barging into the room, presumably a soldier or a guard, judging by his olive coloured military uniform and steel helmet, and the submachine gun in his hands. "What the in the name of God happened in here?!" Only to discover that the only person capable of answering him is now laying flat on the ground, with a metal cabinet over him, unconscious. He set his gun down beside the table and attempted to remove the cabinet from the poor scientist while calling for help, "Som-"

Smack

The guard grunted and fell down with the scientist without muttering a single word, struck down by the stock of his own weapon he left carelessly on the ground, the Umbreon let out a faint laugh, thee humans have obviously underestimated his capabilities, and has never heard of the term "Psychic" before. He waited in silence for more footsteps and arrive, but none did, it seems like no one heard the cry for help from the guard, which is good, he doesn't want to attract any unwanted attention. Now it is the matter of getting him out of this cage is he is in, which is surprisingly easy, he simply extended his psychic energy into the interior of the lock and turned it as if there was a key inside, a click could then be heard, as the lock is now undone, he simply nudged the gate out of the way as he stepped out of the small cage, being careful to not accidently step on the glass shards.

The scientist grumbled out something inaudible, it looks like he is not completely knocked out, but as of now, he poses no threat to him. "...I would stay down if I were you, your head is going to hurt after you regained full consciousness, but you left me with no choice, you brought this upon yourself." He informed the human, he was never one for violence, even considered as a pacifist by some that know him, but he will certainly not hold back in case of danger or self-defense. But the human doesn't seem to want to give up as he brushed his hands to the side, attempting to push the fallen guard and the cabinet off him, ignoring the all the glass shards that are cutting his hands. His attempts to free himself was cut short as the Umbreon realized the rising threat and knocked him over the head with the guard's submachine gun, stucking him to the ground once more. "...I told you to stay down, and you should have listened." He probably couldn't hear what he is saying anymore, but he rather not to take any chances.

The gun dropped to the ground with a clank as he retracted his psychic power back into his body, returning his eyes back into their normal colour. This neat little trick of his has saved him countless times during his journey across different worlds and certainly made up for not having hands, though he never understood how it worked, Dark Type energy and Psychic energy Type don't exactly get along all that well, so it is puzzling to him as to why he learned how to use Psychic from a TM he found at the end of the Dungeon.

"Now it is not the time to ponder about questions like these, focus on escaping, the thinking can wait." He mentally scolded himself for getting distracted so easily, perhaps the constant exploring is finally taken a toll on his mind, he knows that after this whole ordeal is over, he has earned a well deserved break.

He picked up a set of leather pouches that had fallen out of the cabinet, his leather pouches. They were removed from him without during the time period when he was rendered unconscious by the tranquilizer dart, it appears to him that they were planning on performing tests on its contents after they are done with him, which unknowingly made things easier for him since he doesn't want to wander around the entire facility just to look for them, and Arceus knows how big this place is. Flipping open the cover with his teeth, he checked to see if anything is missing, it certainly doesn't seem like it, the berries are all in the same position as he left them, a couple of rolls of fabric that he called bandages that he insisted on giving him despite knowing that the Umbreon doesn't get hurt all that much, a small ink pen which he uses to take down important information or just notes about something that interests him on this notepad, which is right beside the pen. After ensuring that nothing is missing, he threw the pack onto his back, readjusting it a bit so it fits him comfortably, the pouch is nothing special, made out of old leather and considered by some as deeply unfashionable, frayed around the edges, it surely has seen better days. But all it matters to him is the pouch is extremely durable, never tearing or breaking apart on him while keeping his properties nice and dry, he was never a big believer that outer appearance matters at all, so he is fine with the lack of decoration on the pouch.

Using the human pile and the cabinet as leverage, he successfully hopped onto the table where the scientist left the chart he was supposedly recording information about him, the charts and graphs that lined paper were neat and clear, but ultimately mostly empty and useless, they didn't know anything about him after all, the only few charts they filled out are his weight, height, length and species, they didn't even put his name on the chart, all it says is "Subject 249" near the top, he was right, they never considered him as a sentient creature, just another subject. He suppose he can even leave this paper here and they will learn nothing, but it is always better to be safe than sorry, he ripped the paper clean off with his teeth, hastily stuffed it into his pouches, then jumping off the table and headed towards the exit of the room, he is not going to stay here.

(Line Break)

"Run! Find and join your squad!"

"Now! Let's go! Hit them hard!"

"You heard the Lieutenant! Let's go!"

"Mortal Team! Give me some H.E. on those sons of bitches!"

"Set up here! 430! Four Rounds! H.E.!"

"Hard Load!"

"Hanging!"

"Fire!"

"Hard Load!"

"Hanging!"

"Fire!"

"Drop 4-5!"

"Shit! Smith! I am hit! Medic! Medic!"

"Hold the Left Flank! We can't let them get through!"

(Line Break)

The tunnel was originally lit up by a line of bare light bulbs protected by wire cages lining both sides of the walls, but first they flicked, then they buzzed, before giving out and plunging the entire hallway into darkness dark, pitch dark, the power supply of this facility had most likely failed for the time being, there is no openness, nothing that shines and the smell of dampness perfumed the air, like he just walked into some pit, it is so narrow where it can only accompany three people walking side by side, someone else walking in the opposite direction would need to dip into one of those side room to let them go by… Given the fact if they are not locked.

The walls in this tunnel are in a gray undercoat, perhaps even showing the concrete beneath them, devoid of any decoration or variation, though he is certain it is done on purpose, for this place is anything but abandoned. The floor is uneven from so much traffic and judging by the smell, it hadn't been cleaned in quite a while. However, darkness caused by the power outage wouldn't have masked his appearance if he hasn't dimmed down his rings, they are literally a beacon of light amidst the darkness, broadcasting his location to everyone who sees it, he never understood as to why Umbreon have these glowing rings, it is more of a disadvantage than anything else for these creatures of the night. Sure, it enables them to relax and regenerate under the moon, but there has to be a more effective way of doing so than putting glowing rings all over one's body.

Long and featureless, that is what this hallway basically is, at least on the plus side, besides the scientists and the guard who came in to help, he haven't encountered any more resistance, or any living beings in general, not a single sound could be heard behind most of the steel doors the lined the walls, and those do make a sound is mostly the sound of water dropping onto the ground or the constant buzzing of the vents that are supplying this underground facility with fresh air, which is surprisingly not offline along with the Lighting System, they must be on a different power grid.

A sudden conversation coming from behind door he just walked by made him jump. A sign above the door reads: "Block 3 Planning Room."

"Damn, when will be the power be back on? The engineering department needs to get their shit together, this is the fourth time this week! "

"Relax Runner, cut them some slack, you know how the war is going now, with the damned artillery pounding on our power lines and forward emplacements, there's gotta be a couple of shortages."

"Shut it, both of you."

"Yes, Major."

"I don't want any more bullcrap from any of you, do I make myself clear!?"

"Yes, Major."

"Private Malarkey, take your flashlight and make your way to the engineering department ASAP, I need to the goddamn power back on to read the maps."

"Yes Sir."

Before he could even react or find a place to hide, the door swung opened and a man in the same uniform olive-colored uniform walked out, carrying a flashlight and a rifle. Well, as long he doesn't point his flashlight in his direction, he shouldn't be able to-

The lightbulbs in the hallway flashed, and blinked into existence, illuminating the tunnel, the power has been restored.

"Hey Major, look! Looks like our boys in the-" Malarkey stopped in mid-sentence he noticed the creature that had been revealed by the light, staring back at him. For a moment, neither side said anything or moved an inch, the human out of pure shock and the Pokemon out of pure surprise.

The guard reacted first as he finally realized what he was staring at the possible danger he was in as he frantically begins to bolt and load his rifle while calling out for help, "Runner! Get your Rifle! We have an-"

He didn't get to finish his sentence as the Umbreon grabbed the steel door using psychic and slammed it full force into his face before he could finish loading his rifle, causing his to tip backwards and losing the grip on his weapon, giving the Umbreon the opportunity to rip it out of his hands, gripping it by the barrel and struck the guard straight across the face with the wooden stock, knocking him out in one swift hit.

The second guard wasn't doing nothing as all of this unfolded in front of his eyes, he started loading his rifle as soon as he heard the first guard's cry for help, but he was still too late to help the first guard, by the time he looked up with his weapon in hand, the first guard as already fallen unconscious, his gun levitating in the air, pointing at him, with that strange creature at the doorway.

"...Human, I would recommend you to put down your arms, I do not wish to harm you, unless you give me no other choice but to do so, I just want to leave this facility." He warned the human, keeping the rifle pointed at him. In reality, he has no idea how to use a gun, they never taught him, why would they? He can protect himself without the use of firearms, but the human doesn't know that, to him, he might be ready to fire that gun at a moment's notice.

"Private Dave, lay down your arms, if this creature is to fire, we would all be dead." The Major commanded, standing behind a writing desk, likely unarmed himself.

"Yes… Sir." The guard complied, dropping his weapon to the ground and placed his hands behind his head.

"...Much appreciated, as I said before, I wouldn't hurt you." The levitated rifling suddenly flipped one hundred and eighty degrees and flew right at the guard, smashing into his forehead, knocking him clean out. "...But I rather take no chances." He flipped the rifle again, this time pointing right at the Major, who now has a look of horror on his face. "...Major, I would gladly thank you if you could tell me where I am, and how do I get out of here."

The Major is at a loss for words, he had heard about some talks about a bizarre creature being captured at the perimeters of this base and transported in for further examination, but that is all he know, he is in charge of Battlefield strategizing and planning, not the sciency part of this facility, the fear of the unknown plus the fact the creature just took out two of his most trusted guards without using any visible weapons or breaking a sweat almost made him want to tell everything he knows and scramble away in terror.

Almost.

But he is a soldier, someone that willingly joined the army and swore to protect his country and do what is right, he might be defenseless, but his lips are sealed, many have succumbed to the temptation of peace and lies, others buckled under the fear and surrendered, he is not one of them, his loyalty to his country will not be deterred by the threat of death.

"I don't you what you are or whose side you are on, but you ain't getting shit out of me, do you hear me? You want information? Over my dead body!" The soldier yelled at the Pokemon, wanting to show his determination to resist to the end and trying to scare the creature.

However, he got a different reaction from the creature than what he expected.

The rifle flipped in the air again, its stock pointing at him rather than the barrel, "...Very well then, you have made your choice, I can see that you are a loyal individual to your country, but your refusal to tell me what I want to know in order to deny me information is fertile, because..." The rifle stock smashed against his helmet, taking him out just, just like his two fellow guards. "You really should have thought about where you are… This is a room for strategizing and planning… I am sure I can find something out without you help." Surely this so called "Planning Room" can offer just as much as the Major would… Given if he could even find the intel he needed in the piles of maps and documents, he sighed in silence, he will be here for a long time.

(Line Break)

"Sergeant! They broke through our left flank!'

"How many?"

"At least 75! They overrun us! And all guns are out!"

"Make your shots count! We are running low!"

"Goddamnit, where is our support?!"

"Sergeant! Tank! Tank at one o'clock!"

"Cover!"

"Fall back! Fall back!"

"HQ, HQ, this is Charlie! We are requesting immediate fire support! The enemy has driven a wedge between our lines! I repeat, the enemies have driven a wedge between our lines! Requesting..."

(Line Break)

The planning room was tasteful in a strange way, four concrete walls and a bare floor, there is nothing in there that looks interesting enough to catch anyone's attention at first sight, a long circular desk in the middle took up most of the space in the room, displaying what seems to be an overview of a continent, or a section of it at least, littered with flags of varies colours and miniature models of ships and planes, looking more like a children's playground than anything else, he made attempts to read what this giant map is trying to convey, but it's weird symbols and names confused him, he only manage to figure out one thing for sure: This world is at war, and the odds are grim.

Posters and diagrams of foreign war machines and vehicles are pinned to the back walls of the room, riddled with tiny text of analysis and evaluation of performance, a long metal table lay directly under the diagrams with three sets of radio receivers on top, a couple of metal chairs in front of it, and a water dispenser in a corner. The radio he saw here are nothing like the ones he used to see, they are large, bulky and more complex than what they need to be, which does make sense considering this world is not technologically advanced like the other worlds he visited, nor do magic exist, unintentionally making his escape much easier as he is less likely to encounter foes he can't handle.

Piles upon piles of files and maps made his head ache, the problem he has now is not having too little information, but rather too much information, most of them he doesn't need at all, such as reports of troop movement, statistics of amount of Military Supplies arriving monthly, plans of operation, reconnaissance photographs… the list goes on, but these seemingly useless information did enable him to piece together the current status of the world he is in: A war just ended in this world, but peace didn't follow, another war did. One of the two victorious factions is concerned about the enormous size of troops deployed on the continent by the East Side after the war has ended, and the perception Eastern leader was highly unreliable, a plan to attack the East was formed, despite the Eastern troops outnumber them two to one, the plan was passed and put into effect. It was a disaster, the West had suffered defeat after defeat and the Eastern troops are closing in on its capital, the West is mustering everything it can to salvage this desperate situation, but he knows that it is hopeless.

He never understood why humans always wage war against each other, he knows that war accompanied them throughout their history, in fact, he can say that the human history is a history of war, people fought against others for what they believed in, even the mightiest of all empires cannot withstand the fury of war and time, they all fell, every single one of them. The victors then rose from the ashes of those they defeated, only to suffer the same fate. The unending cycle will continue on, until one day, when the world falls again, no one will be taking the wheel, and continue the cycle. Some might say they fight for fame and glory, and some might say they fight because they want to be a hero, but in the end, fame is nothing but a heavy burden upon your shoulders, in the end, it will crush you. As for heroes… they are not the glorious warriors many thought they to be, they are just puppets, pawns of a game, a game called war, a game where no one wins. He is certain there is a human saying: "If you don't learn from history, you are bound to repeat it." But they never did, they never learn from their mistakes and errors to avoid repeating them in the future, if they did, the world would be different. Perhaps it is something he is not supposed to understand, perhaps they don't even understand themselves.

Eventually, he found what he was looking for all this time, a construction blueprint of this facility tucked away at the bottom of a set of old reports, looking at it, it appears that this facility is way larger than he expected it to be, he is currently at Block C, the deepest block in this entire facility, hosting Laboratories, Interrogation Rooms, Communication Center, Planning Rooms and Surveillance Center; Block B is right above him, hosting the Dining Hall, Living Quarters, the Kitchen and Dormitory; Block A is the top layer and surface buildings, consisting of Armoury, Barracks, Outposts and Bunkers. There are a couple of ways he can take to reach the surface, but the majority of them will most likely result in tense confrontations or even violent engagements between him and the personnel in this military installation due to their location, something he tries his best to avoid, he is not immortal, he will die if he is to do something wrong, taking the path of least resistance is always advised. Thankfully, there is a path with less traffic than the others, an emergency staircase at the other end of Block C, while he still has to travel through half of the length of Block C, it is much safer than other options.

He turned to check to see if any of the guards or the Major have woken up, they are still unconscious, perhaps he hit them a bit too hard, but in these situations, caution is above all. After making sure the humans are not waking up anytime soon, he didn't head straight to the door, but instead hopped back on the planning table, picked a miniature model of a tank and hurled it into his leather pouches before hopping back down and headed towards the doorway, surely they won't mind him taking a little souvenir.

(Line Break)

"We have no chance! Run! Run!"

"What about the lab?"

"Forget the lab! We need to get the fuck out of here!"

"Steven! No!"

"Leave him! He is gone! We need to get out of here now!"

"Medic!"

"Where the fuck is the Charlie Company?!"

"Retreat! Fall back to town and dig in! We have to hold this sector!"

"Sniper!"

"Get that fucking AT Gun Into position!"

(Line Break.)

"All Man to battle Stations, this is not a Drill. All Man to Battle Stations, this is not a Drill..."

The sound of alarm raged across the entire facility.

It wailed electronically along the corridors, leaping out from corners and bends, echoing against the solid concrete walls, blaring and unrelenting, breaking his thought process and forced him to cover his ears to soften the noise from assaulting his sensitive ears, overhead, a small light came to life and begin to rapidly flashing red.

It might be an ancient method, but it is effectiveness is not to be doubted.

Right now, through the open creeks of the door he is hiding behind, he can see guards and soldiers alike storming out of their rooms, dressed up in full marching gear, rushing towards the staircase and elevators, he is lucky that no one considered using the emergency exit, or things could get pretty ugly here, they might to be unarmed, but a forty verse one situation could hardly go well for anyone. They seem to be nervous and fearful rather than courageous to face whatever is to come, he could hear their nervous chatter even from here.

"Are they here Sir? Are they… really here? What happened to Charlie, Fox and Baker Company? Aren't they supposed to cover our left flank while we hold the center?"

"We lost contact with them about an hour ago, aerial reconnaissance and radio traffic shows that they have been overrun by the enemy forces and retreated without orders. We are it."

His words applauded the soldiers, the chattering among them ceased, no one said anything for a while, until one soldier looked up and asked with a shaky voice: "Do we… do now? Sir? Surrender?"

The Officer shook his head, "No, we resist, and fight. We all swore and pledged our allegiance to this country, that we shall defend it to the end, now it is the time to honor our vows. We will defend this facility to the last men, to the last cartridge, death is the fate of all soldiers, a fate we may too, soon embrace. Any cowards, panickers and deserters, leave now, we don't need you here, for those who wish to remain, I will be at the Forward Observation Bunker in Sector 3. Arm yourselves, you all know where your positions are." With that, he turned his back on his men and ascended up the concrete stairs, his steps are heavy, but firm.

The soldiers remained still at first, and then, one by one, they followed his footsteps up the stairs, their expression grim and stern, they all know this is probably their last fight, they are all that is in sight, but no one panicked and no one ran, they will take up arms and resist the enemy, even if they are outgunned and too few in numbers, but it is their duty as a soldier, to defend and do what is right.

He waited until all soldiers ascended the stairs and the sound of a steel door slamming shut before nudging the door open and coming out of his little hiding spot, the sirens are still pesting the hallways, the recorded voice announcing the same lines over and over again, even though they have already done their duty of alarming the garrisons of the approaching enemy forces, they persisted on, the sounds made his heart pound in his chest, like a requiem, a requiem for a lost war.

"S-Stop!" A young voice appeared behind him.

And stop he did.

"Tu-Turn around."

And turn he did.

He is now staring into a face of a man, or at least someone who has the form of a man but certainly not the courage all those soldiers possess. He can see that he is shaking slightly, he can see the fear in his blue eyes, he can see the sweat rolling off his forehead out of nervousness, surely he can't be much over eighteen. His military uniform is slightly too large for his size, getting baggy at places, his olive drab helmet almost covered his eyes if it were not adjusted slightly back. The young soldier is clutching a trench knife in his hands, refusing to take his eyes off the Umbreon.

"Wh-What are you?"

"...Not an Ally or a Foe."

The boy doesn't seem to be convinced by his words, as he refused to put down the sword.

"Ho-How do I know you are not lying? Yo- You didn't answer my question, what are you?"

"... Human, listen, I don't want to fight you, and what are you even planning on doing with that knife? As I said, I am not a Friend, or a Foe, just the wrong creature caught in the wrong place. If I am not mistaken, you still have a battle to fight, unless you no longer desire to fight this war, which I can understand, no one wants to die. But… I strongly advise you to stay out of my way, I just want to leave here, there is no need to make things harder for both of us. I am… sorry for what your world has become, but there is nothing I can do."

Without giving the boy the time to respond, he turned away and continued on with his original path towards the staircase.

"H-Hey! Get back here!" The boy protested, but his shouts were simply ignored by the Umbreon as he began to hop up the stairs one at the time, slowly vanishing from his field of view, but he didn't pursue him, he stood there, staring at the Umbreon until his bushy tail vanished from his view.

He is so close to the surface, he can feel it, he can taste the gunpowder in the air, he can hear the crackling of rifles and the shrieks of guns, he can feel the ground trembling with each shell that fell, he can smell the smoke from the burning equipment, just a few more meters, and he will be out of here, he must have a clear view of the sky in order for his Teleportation trick to function, or else he won't have to travel through half of the complex.

Hopping onto the final set of stairs, he is once again back on ground level, now the only thing standing between him and the sky is a set of heavy-

He heard something.

First, it is like a small whisper, a light screech, then it grew louder, the sound turned into what only can be described as a noise between a primal cry and a shriek, but it didn't stop, it continued to grow as the sound becomes more and more distorted.

"Get down! Cover!" Someone shouted behind him.

But it was too late for him to react, something struck the bunker head-on, first an explosion, then a blinding flash.

And everything went to black.

(Line Break.)

"Are you 4/5?"

"No! This is 3/7!"

"And then where the hell is the 4th Battalion?"

"We gotta move! They got us bracketed! Get your ass out of this hole! We gotta move!"

"Fall back 70 dig in!"

"Rounds Complete! We are all out!"

"Do you read me? Iron Fort, this is L-3, do you read me?"

"Get him on his feet! Keeping moving!"

"We have to pull back!"

"Hold your position! There can be no surrender! No defeat! No retreat! On your feet! Damn you! Fight!"

"Sir! We lost Sector 4! Sector 2 and 3 surrendered! We can't hold this position much longer! CO is dead!"

"Arghh!"

"Abandon your position! We are done for!"

(Line Break)

It is raining.

Crumbled concrete lay ash-like on the ground, a cold, wet dust over every inch of ground, there it would stay until the rain washed everything clean again, washing away the horrors that once occurred here.

Cold droplets of water on his fur woke him up from his forced slumber, his hearing is still suffering from the after-effects of the explosion, muffled and hazy. His head hurts, the pain is clogging his mind, making it difficult for him to think properly, he raised his head from ground, shaking off the rubbles and wet dust, he tried to focus his eyes on his surroundings to see where he is and what exactly happened, though his vision is still blurry, he is certain he could see the dark sky, which wasn't there before, closing his eyes, he shook his head in an attempt to clear his vision, it worked, but his vision is still fuzzy, he doesn't know how long has passed, the concept of time is lost to him now. A section of the bunker walls and roof no longer exists, a gaping hole now stands in their place, the heavy steel blast door is severely bent and broken, twisted at awkward angles, lodging itself into the bunker's back wall, the smooth concrete are now riddled with bullet holes and burn marks, the once formidable defensive structure is now no more than a ragged pile of rubble.

He pushed his shaky body up from the pile of rubble, shaking off the ones that landed on him, and limped towards the opening in the wall created by the shell blast. He doesn't get hurt all that much, plus it is hard to injure himself in the first place, but that blast was more than enough, he is aching all over, especially his back where most of the rubble landed, but on the bright side, his body heals fast from injuries, he should be fine in an hour or two. Reaching the edge of the wall, he looked out, and saw exactly what he was expecting.

The rain persisted, the landscape outside is barren, lifeless, the ground is nothing more than a sea of mud, littered with shell holes, smashed equipment, shattered barbed wires, abandoned emplacements and the remains of those who have fallen on this battlefield, just a graveyard of the unburied and forgotten. Their corpses lay in the mud, in their own blood, perhaps miles upon miles away from the front lines, their parents, brother and sisters are waiting for their return, waiting for someone they will most likely never see, they are nothing but meat for the birds. The trees in the vicinity are nothing but a lone trunk, ripped in half by some external force. From the opening here, he could hear the roars of the artillery in the distance, and the echoes of guns of those who continued to resist.

But the battle was lost, they have failed, the enemy has won.

How many had fallen in this struggle? How many more will follow suit? How many families are broken? How many dreams are shattered? How many hopes have perished?

War will never end.