My thanks to Cornova, for allowing me to write in the universe s/he created.

Little flecks of gold drifted in the wind; dancing along as the wind carried them away. They floated in and out of Alexander's vision and danced across his cheek. It was relaxing to watch it flutter in the wind like freshly departed pollen, but it burned; they seemed to sink deeper and deeper into his flesh as the time wore on. The gold was all he could focus on; everything beyond it was grey, distorted. Blinking cleared it only a little as the gold began to merge into each other, becoming bolder as their edges became more defined. The background began to clear as the empty slate of grey became less smooth, rivets and wires began to melt into existence as Alexander blinked once more, grimacing as he was overcome by a sudden surge of pain behind his ears.

His arms were stone, unflinching no matter how hard he tried to move them. Nails slowly became to twist inside his skull and Alexander's breath was lost as a sudden wave of agony swept over him. The surroundings began to blur as his eyes misted over. In time an arm overcame its own weight and he pressed a hand against his temple, grinding a knuckle into his flesh to try and dispel the migraine. There was a faint pop a couple yards away and a new wave of the gold passed him by, caressing his sore face once more. It went unnoticed as Alexander's other arm came up and slammed against his leg, forcing a grunt out of himself as he managed to pry his eyes open.

The wall once again greeted him with its exposed wires and buckled plating. Eyebrows lowered and the next golden spurt gained his attention. He followed it until it bounced off the ground and faded out of existence. Alexander glanced to where the sparks came from and regretted it as harsh sunlight pierced his already sensitive vision. Abandoning his curiosity a hand managed to find the buckle and press the button, releasing Alexander.

Something didn't click right away as the seat fell away and the ceiling rose to greet him. Raising his arms saved his head as Alexander struck the roof and bounced, rolling along until he hit something farther down the cabin. A piece of metal nearly broke a rib as he smashed into it. There was a crack as his armor gave but by the time it struck his body the momentum was lost.

A faint groan echoed along the metal tube and Alexander cursed quietly. His eyes widened when he turned to find that a tree of all things was what had stopped his fall. Jagged pieces of the roof stuck out and the pipe that had gone for Alexander's ribs was one example of the shrapnel decorating the tree.

Shifting so that the pipe was no longer digging into his back Alexander rested more fully against the tree, looking at the cabin. He was sitting on the ceiling, with the walls buckled around him and the floor above him heavily warped. Every metal surface is pocketed with scorches. Further along beyond the dislodged seats, cables, and loose floor coverings was a bright space that Alexander couldn't bring himself to look at. The recent events flowed through the mud in his head, sounds warped and visions cloudy as he tried to pull them from his mind.

Eventually something hazy began to piece together, but he was distracted as the gold flecks once again approached Alexander. This time however they hit the tree next to him, burning into the already scorched bark. He felt his face and winced as fire seeped across the offended area and quickly pulled his hand away, noting that there was faint resistance as something tried to cling to his hand.

The sparks had done their damage, originating from some exposed wires that had crossed paths.

Alexander frowned and grabbed at his helmet as another wave of pain shot through his skull. He wanted to curl into a ball, grab his legs and just scream until the pain was dull. Nothing of his prior injuries compared to the pressure that desired to break free. He'd been through broken bones, cold steel, poisons, and psychic torture. The torture hadn't ever been this bad; sure he hadn't been able to see straight for a couple days, but he could see. He was nearly blind with this pain. He couldn't even scream as his breath was too ragged to get enough air into his lungs.

Gasping Alexander reached up and grabbed a branch, pulling himself from his resting spot and towards the light. It was excruciating; every inch the light grew brighter and the pounding in his head grew more intense, but he was compelled to get out of the wreckage.

He pushed himself through broken chairs and over shattered pipes as the light blinds him. He can't see anymore and fumbles for another handhold to drag himself along. The pain has reached levels Alexander hasn't experienced in a decade and somehow he manages to weakly grab ahold of one last handle to pull himself into the light. Or at least he tried to.

The ceiling shifted and the panel Alexander was on gave way, throwing him into the abyss. He fell for a couple feet and landed in soft soil, cracking his neck and back. His eyes boiled for a couple seconds before they began to re-adjust to the better lighting, and the migraine slowly started to retreat enough for Alexander to shakily put some weight on a leg. Propping himself against the side of the trench he had fallen in Alexander managed to stand. Pins and needled worked across the flesh in his legs and he sighed as there was something else to focus on besides his head.

After a couple shaky steps Alexander moved towards the end of the trench as the dirt began to slope upwards. Large pieces of steel and wood lay half submerged in the dirt as Alexander passed under an enormous tree that had fallen across the top of the trench. It quickly leveled out and Alexander stood mute as he could see the rest of the crash site.

All the trees in the area had been leveled. Ones that had not snapped in half had been uprooted, and they had taken parts of the plane with it. A wing jutted into the sky as it lay propped against some trees nearly double the width Alexander stood tall. The cargo lay scattered among the destroyed trees and a slow spin showed that there wasn't any cargo inside the piece of cabin Alexander had come from.

Alexander took another step and stepped on something that crunched. His attention snapped from his surroundings and he recoiled from the sight at his feet. A few colorful feathers near the charred remains stuck to his boot were the only hint that it had once been a bird. Smoke rose above it slowly and Alexander took a step back as the smell filled his nostrils. It was delicious, and Alexander took a couple more steps back before thoughts of condiments could invade his mind and make him feel disgusted with himself. Scanning the environment closer he could see similar pokemon had met the same fate and Alexander found himself counting. He stopped when he passed twenty. He didn't know how long he was out but the bodies looked fresher than the wreckage, some that had not been completely fried still bled and painted the dirt around them a dark red. The smell of cooked meat was potent in the area but Alexander thought he could smell something more metallic in the air.

He didn't know how much time he spent gawking at the destruction around him but Alexander was brought back to reality when a loud crack broke the silence. Alexander flinched as the sound cut into his sensitive ears. There was another survivor. Alexander's hand gravitated towards his sidearm as he stumbled towards the location. He made it past a tree that had lived for a century and leaned against it. He stuck his head around the side and flinched as something smashed into his helmet. He heard the report of the gun faintly as he lost his footing and stumbled out from his cover, ringing in his ears. Alexander raised his transceiver to his face. If another round was fired the metal would deflect the bullet and save him from a lethal injury.

"Newbie?!"

Chief and Connor stood agape from their position behind an uprooted tree. Chief didn't look right when he was shocked- the grizzled face he sported just wasn't meant for it. His relieved look vanished as soon as it came as horror replaced it. He wasn't looking Alexander in the eyes anymore, but just above them as if something was perched on his head.

When Alexander reached up he didn't know what to expect. His hands moved along his helmet until they struck something cold and hard. When he touched it he felt something move along his scalp, digging deeper into it. He reached for the strap keeping his helmet on but stopped when a new sound broke the silence.

The first thing that Alexander thought was that it sounded like a fire alarm or a car horn. The sudden orange blur proved that it was neither. It closed the distance between Alexander and the others within the time it took him to register that he was seeing it and the ozone in the air thickened. Alexander took a step back and found himself against the tree with nowhere to go. Another dizzy spell came and he slid as his knees weakened.

The blur kept a short distance from him and the energy in the air was increasing as it became more frantic. Alexander blinked slowly and tried to determine what situation he was in, but he was still shaken up pretty bad and couldn't complete his train of thought. The damn sounds it was making didn't help.

He looked closer at the blur and realized it wasn't moving anymore. Raising a hand he rubbed his palm against his eyes. Everything began to refocus and he could finally make out what he was looking at. It was a rotom. Its distress leaked into the air and perplexed Alexander until the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place. "Kara?"

Kara bobbed once and turned to Connor, who'd at some point tried closing the distance. He flinched but held his ground as he continued closer. "I can help him, give me a chance."

Alexander's eyebrows furrowed. What was he going on about? The man trembled slightly as he took another step closer and Kara floated back slightly. Losing interest in the two Alexander reached up and unlatched the clasp keeping his helmet on. He wanted to see what they were worried about and ignored the sound Connor made when he pulled his helmet off. He faintly felt liquid running down his face as he looked at his helmet. The sunlight glinted off a piece of steel with the dimensions of a clipboard as it protruded from the ruined helmet. Alexander felt the crack in his helmet and turned the headgear to follow it, numbly realizing that it had been split in half. Turning back he tugged on the metal slightly, but it didn't budge. Trying to calm the tremors working up his arms Alexander placed the helmet beside him, noticing that blood coated the interior material.

"You're the luckiest son of a bitch I've met kid." Connor reached down carefully and parted the matted hair to examine the wound. Alexander barely felt it and glanced back at his helmet. He was alive. He had to repeat that a couple times for it to sink in, and sharp pain in his skull reminded him that he forgot the word barely. Connor whistled, much to Alexander's annoyance as the sound hurt his ears. "We'll need to find a first aid kit- you need stitches."

Connor reached down and grasped his hand. "Ready?"

Alexander nodded and Connor managed to lift him to his feet. When his knees threatened to buckle again Connor slung his arm over his shoulder and helped keep him afoot. "Easy there, let me find you a better place to rest."

He was taken to where Chief was looking through some cargo and motioned to sit on one of the discarded crates. Chief glanced from his work and suddenly stood rigid. He stumbled through some branches and had almost made it to Alexander before Kara placed herself between them, rising to meet Chief's height. They glared at each other as they both stood rooted in their spots. Connor seemed to shrink beside Alexander as tension began to escalate. Alexander tried to tell Kara to back down but started coughing the moment he opened his mouth. Chief broke eye contact with Kara and looked at Alexander, then one of the smoking cadavers, and finally back to Kara.

"I don't know what you are thinking right now, but if you don't step down I swear it'll be the end of you."

Connor suddenly spoke from his position slightly behind Alexander. "How about you don't threaten Alexander's rotom and tell it about our predicament? That seems to be the best option." He ventured. He hardly managed to keep his composure when the titan turned to him with fire in his eyes.

Chief lifted a small device in his hand and waved it around slightly. "Our communications are dead and we are cut off from HQ. You-" He pointed sharply at Alexander, "-still have your transceiver and our only way of communication. I'm going to use it to report the loss of a plane full of personnel and staff." The venom in Chief's voice was potent enough to kill, and Alexander cowered slightly under the attention.

"Kara, stand down!" Alexander barked, nursing his skull. She had never acted even remotely hostile before, and the sudden behavior change was startling. This was grounds for capital punishment for Alexander. Kara would be separated and scrapped, and a new rotom would take her place. A new, dull ache in his chest burned and made him curse again.

Kara eyed Alexander and reluctantly obeyed. She drifted out of Chief's way, but the two didn't break from their stalemate.

Alexander looked down to his transceiver and thumbed at the screen. He could set up the connection well before Chief's ego could be overcome by the importance of what was happening. "How long has it been?" He muttered.

Connor, who had been leaning over his shoulder, replied quietly as he turned his attention back to Chief, who had finally given up on trying to intimidate Kara. "I'd say an hour." Connor looked to a pile of burnt feathers and his eyes nearly sparkled. "What happened here?"

Alexander sighed slowly, barely managing a shrug as he examined the same pile. "I woke up about five minutes ago, you'd have to ask Kara for a report when she goes back into the transceiver." As he spoke the 'mon in question drifted further from them and was facing the forest at the edge of the crash.

The scientist had begun to wrap Alexander's head to slow the bleeding when Chief finally made his way over. Alexander turned his attention to him as the loading sequence finished and greeted him meekly. "I'm sorry Sir, I don't know what's gotten into her."

Chief's glare softened slightly as he looked to the ruined helmet a couple meters away and then back to Alexander's bandages. His eyes traveled then to a large piece of metal that had several scorches welded into it. "It might not be your fault. I don't know how it didn't go ballistic like the rest of the rotom, but it's probably still being affected. A weapon could have been used against the whole island for all we know; I saw severe damage on the way down, so it wasn't just us."

Chief noticed that Alexander kept using different pronouns for his rotom and recalled that he hadn't used its species name to address it. He glanced over at him but didn't say anything. He wasn't certain if it was a violation of company procedures to become attached to their property.

Thinking about the little bastard made his hackles raise. The damn thing tried to fry him when his back was turned. He had watched it push off the local pokemon and he had gathered Connor when it was clear. It was still juiced from the fighting and had attacked them. One thing was leading to another, but before it could boil over the suddenly very much alive Alexander decided to wander right into the middle of the fight and get shot. The recruit was nearly a white pidgey- the fight ended right then and here they were, back on the same side again.

Mostly, at least. Chief kept catching it watching him when his back was turned. It was a liability the longer it was outside of the transceiver, but he figured it would only listen to Alexander, who was scrutinizing his device with growing disbelief. He didn't think much of it after the kid's free fall and head injury but he paused when Connor shot to his feet and started cursing wildly.

He had escorted this specific man multiple different times to many scientific sites before, and not once had he heard a curse slip from that man's lips. By the time he could get to Alexander, whose face seemed to have been bleached of all color, Connor had managed to surpass all the profanity that Chief had uttered that day by a country mile and was still chugging along.

It was acceptable when he finally saw the screen too. A notification with a red background was flashing in bright white letters: DEFCON 1. Chief's legs went numb and he had to sit down next to Alexander, who raised a trembling hand and swiped left. Text began to fill the screen.

"All personnel are to report to the nearest surviving base immediately. If you cannot at this moment, find a secure location and wait for pick up. Help should arrive within four to six hours, depending on your location from the nearest functional base. If help doesn't arrive with that time frame vacate the area and find another secure location or try and make your way to the nearest installation. In the following chaos, you will be needed more than ever to bring peace to the surviving populations and prevent as much damage as possible. Instructions on that procedure will be listed later. If these directions are ignored you will be assumed to have become insubordinate and marked as a class-A civilian. You will be found and proper procedures will be enacted."

A briefing popped up as soon as the prior message finished and the air grew harder to breathe.

"To all surviving personnel that are reading this, do not travel to the nearest installation or base. Losses are unclear at this moment but reports have suggested that over 70% of installations have suffered catastrophic breaches and have declared a code black purge. Another 25% may have suffered catastrophic structural damage and are being evacuated at this time. Stay where you are and report back so that we can update your whereabouts for future search and rescue operations once they are available. An unknown event of global proportions unfolded one hour, thirty-two minutes, and eleven seconds ago and has since disrupted every settlement on record. Research is ongoing as to how this phenomenon occurred and if it is related to another organization. If you have surviving pokemon do not release them. Widespread reports of lethal attacks are spreading and losses of personnel have been rising as time progresses. Remember that we are currently unable to send rescue so do try and find a secure location. It should be heavily fortified and armed. Do not leave that location once you have contacted the nearest operational installation. Be prepared for anything, many nations are already on the verge of declaring war and the threat of nuclear fallout is rising. You will not be marked as a class-A civilian if these standards are not met. You are expected to survive so do not expose yourself in the coming weeks or months. Wait for extraction, and during this time do what is necessary to survive. All prior conduct restrictions are being lifted in an attempt to minimalize losses, so no punishments will be issued for violations of anything below tier two infractions during this time. A green button will appear on your screen shortly, press it to update command on your current situation. You will report back every day or until extraction arrives so that we can keep an accurate record of the area around you."

Alexander wordlessly looked to Chief and offered him control of the transceiver. Chief was as stunned as he was, and his large hands shook as he pressed the button. A panel the size of a dime slid open and light spewed out. It flickered before the hologram cleared up, revealing a disheveled operator. The man was resting his head in his hands and nearly fell out of his chair when they appeared on his screen. Wheels squeaked in the audio as he leaned back and cupped his hands.

"I've got survivors from the Orrean sector!"

There was a loud clatter as something fell on the other side of the call and the man flinched as somebody shoved him aside. A woman stood in his place with a bandage on her arm and multiple stripes along her shoulder. Alexander flinched before she could even open her mouth. This was one of the High Command. They never participated in calls.

"I want a status report!" She barked. "We need to know the status of your sector; you are the first to contact us from it. Is it still functional or has it gone code black?"

Chief managed to regain some of his composure and respond. "Sorry High Command, but we were out on assignment at the time of the incident. We don't know the status of our sector." His voice wavered when the woman physically twitched. Losing his voice Chief looked down and stepped aside, revealing the wreckage around them. He managed to squeak out an explanation. "We are in the Alola region as we speak and are currently trapped on Melemele island. We are the last personnel to have survived from our unit."

High Command curled her lip before glowering at something off camera. "We just got a battlefield report from one of our bases north of Johto ma'am. Their defenses are down and they are being overrun. They are forwarding all of their data to us as we speak." A voice called out with an edge that was audible though the speakers.

High Command tensed and turned from the camera to address the individual. "Overrun by who?"

"The local bug type pokemon began an assault twenty minutes ago and have made their way into the compound; it won't be long before we lose contact with them."

"Send them one of our planes, it's all we can afford in that region."

High command turned her attention back to the trio as if she had forgotten that they were there. "We won't be able to extract you in the near future. Destroy anything that can tie our organization to the crash and follow the standard procedures we've given you. Dismissed."

The feed cut out and the group wavered. Alexander's headache came back and he inhaled deeply. This didn't make any sense. The company had the resources to know everything. How could a weapon of such global scale escape their eyes and ears? There was a small part of him that scoffed at the idea. They had to have known this was coming.

Chief cursed and grabbed a pipe from the ground. He stormed over to a small tree that had somehow escaped the carnage and proceeded to beat it until bark began to shoot off in random directions. Connor sat next to Alexander and looked at something over his shoulder. Alexander turned and felt a spike of energy course through him when Kara passed over him. Confused he listened to her as she spoke; he couldn't understand what she was trying to say but the undertone in the buzzing was enough to let him know it was important.

"We have about ten minutes before the local toucannon and the rest of their evolutionary lines arrive."

Both Connor and Alexander jumped as the speakers on the transceiver activated. "How..." Connor began but grew silent as he processed the information. He stood and quickly made his way over to Chief, who had managed to topple the tree and was still beating it into mulch.

Alexander looked from Kara, who was a couple feet from him, and then back to the transceiver. Images of a bird pokemon began to appear on the screen as Kara gave him a brief description of the pokemon and what they were facing.

"How are you doing this?" He was awed that Kara was manipulating the device without integrating herself.

"It has been my domain for years, Alex, I still have complete control of it." She went to continue with the lesson but was interrupted again.

"Since when could you control this while outside of it?"

Kara buzzed in irritation before responding. "About one hour and thirty-seven minutes ago. May I continue?"

"Alex!"

Chief was done with his tantrum and was back to being himself. Connor was already moving to a couple boxes of cargo and Alexander moved as fast as he dared as he hobbled over to Chief. Kara muttered something to herself in her own language and followed suit. Apparently, she wouldn't continue.

"We are leaving in four minutes! Grab what you can and I'll focus on the breach protocols." Chief didn't wait for a reply and opened a box beside him.

Alexander worked as fast as he could, scouring the wreckage for anything of use. His first box had been a bust as it was filled with broken lab equipment. The next one was also filled with broken equipment and he felt a sudden jolt as Kara brushed by him.

"Follow me." she ordered. Alexander flexed his hand to relax the tension building up as he followed. Time was of the essence and he could feel the clock's hands growing closer to his back. He was brought to a crate the size of a dresser that had an electronic lock. Kara zapped it and the latches released as she manipulated the coding. The top slid open and folded in on itself and Alexander got a nice look at what the company had been making with their money.

A streamlined black suit greeted him from its confines and Alexander immediately noticed that it was armor. He didn't examine it for long though as he stripped off his ruined armor. His fatigues were also in bad shape but he wasn't stripping down any further. He pulled the braided fabric over his form and felt it tighten slightly as he finished. There were bulky pieces of metal beside it and Alexander noticed that one could fit a transceiver in it. He went to put it on and it clamped down on his arm before he could even touch the latches.

"This suit has magnetic properties that will keep the plating on. From what I'm reading it was meant for an ultra space expedition." Kara mentioned. She was looking ahead as if something was on the horizon and Alexander felt a small chill run down his spine. As he continued to strap the rest of the plating on she continued absent-mindedly. "I'm looking through the flight's manifest. I downloaded it while you were unconscious and I think you might want to open the box on the other side of that tree over there."

A crate lay half hidden by branches and Alexander made his way to it. The situation at hand didn't seem possible. How did this happen? How could the company be unprepared for this? They had everything, the most advanced weapons, the most influence. Governments would come to them to buy weapons and technology if they couldn't avoid it.

Maybe this was an elaborate scheme to test if he was still loyal to the company? Alexander had heard whispers of what people had to do to prove themselves when they lost the company's trust. He had seen a couple of people after the trials, the look on their faces was enough to haunt a person for years to come. They had nearly forced Alexander into the trials but someone behind the curtains had decided against it.

This could all be an illusion. The company didn't know it, but Alexander remembered the machines he was hooked up to shortly after they found him. The Simulated Active Battlefield and Environment Realm, or SABER program, could be faintly compared to virtual reality. It used electrical pulses to manipulate a participant's brain into making them believe they were in a different environment. It could alter all five senses. You would be sitting in the chair, but you could be running, jumping, or eating at the same time. You were free to do whatever you wanted but on their terms.

They recorded everything during the experiment. They usually took memories to make the situation. Hundreds of people would have their memories warped to create an interactive world for the participant. It was the best training system the company had, and at the same time the worst.

It broke people. Good soldiers with clean records began to develop sociopathic tendencies. Suicide rates increased the longer the system was used and eventually they had to restrict it after the base it was stationed at went code red.

When Alexander was hooked up to it, it was to test to see if he could even function around other people. It took them months, but he was eventually cleared and sent out for small operations. When his skills were discovered they put him through the wringer again with high-stress scenarios. Alexander couldn't remember much after that. The system did something to him and months later he was allowed back on missions.

They could be bringing it back. He could be in a cold room right now with people watching his every action. This could be a test because Alexander refused to tell them everything he had seen while he was with his last team.

There was so much she could see now. Kara could feel the energy flowing off of the cargo around her, little bars of code floated above them as they tried to keep their contents secure. She could see inside some of them, the internal sensors were basically another pair of eyes that monitored the more volatile substances. She guided Alexander past a box that couldn't protect its cargo. If it were to open the substance's reaction to oxygen would have enough power to vaporize the area around it. Alexander stopped and leaned on it and Kara's vitals spiked as she felt the pressure on the sensors.

He took a couple shaky breaths and smiled at her. "Workin' me to death and I just survived a plane crash." Before she could say anything he pushed himself up and kept going.

She had nearly killed him. Kara had wanted to shut down her sensors and ignore what was happening to Alexander back on the plane. She was powerless to stop the beating and stood by to record, like every single time beforehand. She would make a report, send the attack to base, and watch as it was dismissed. Anger had blossomed throughout her circuits as she was thrown to the floor with Alexander. She was at a breaking point. She had let too many people harm him without repercussions and now it was almost a new normal. She was going to change that, starting with Chief. They would listen to her again.

Then the voice came. It was powerful, ancient. Angry.

I've given you the power to take back our world from the humans. Kill any who stand against you.

It startled her and before she could comprehend it something was flowing through her veins. It swept over her like a wave and she felt her confines grow smaller. They twisted and shattered under the power flowing through her as Kara struggled against it. Chief's voice snapped her out of it as he approached Alexander. The pain faded and raw hatred consumed her as he raised a fist. The rules that kept her restrained within her own cage had been weakened with time and this new power caused them to finally crumple.

"I knew you wouldn't even make it out of the day!"

She didn't mean to do it. She was going to skewer Chief, turn him into dust for laying a hand on Alexander. She put a charge behind her as she prepared to strike and the whole world shook as Alexander seized. The shock had enough force to mimic a defibrillator and if Alexander had not developed some tolerance he would have died on the floor right then and there. With Alexander flailing Kara couldn't get a bead on Chief to attack him and as the high faded she finally realized what she had done to him when she tried to protect him.

Kara unlocked another box and watched Alexander pull out a Scizor P90. It was was a modified weapon the company had created off of an older P90 model. They had fixed the bullet feed issues that the original was known for and had upgraded the caliber to 7.62 mm rounds, hollowing out some of the stock to better fit the magazines. They had upgraded the shoulder pad with advanced recoil compensators to fix the dramatic increase in recoil and had been mostly successful. The weapon was expensive to make due to the technology put into the compensators so it only saw use in dangerous expeditions. Without really needing an explanation, it was dark red for the pokemon it was named after.

"Hey beautiful." Alexander groaned, reaching down to pick it up.

Kara checked for the other humans before speaking. "There was an expedition planned for the ultra dimension. The company wanted to look for undiscovered materials or specimens to further document so they decided to send in a research team. They needed to be heavily armed for the excursion."

Alexander looked at her and Kara finally noticed that he was wearing a new helmet. She'd overlooked him putting it on while she scanned the forest; it looked not unlike a motorcycle helmet, but the face shield was black and could withstand impact speeds of up to a hundred miles per hour without knocking one's head off their shoulders.

The energy flowing off of it drew her closer without noticing. Kara realized that it had an interface and her interest bloomed. It connected to the transceiver, and sector opened up that she nearly rushed for it to see what it looked like. She stopped herself; she was still needed, they had five minutes before the toucannon would be back and she couldn't be distracted by the new hardware.

"Kid you better be dead!" Connor stumbled over a tree root as he ran to them from around some wreckage. "Chief found the reactor and we got about two minutes to get out of the blast range before he sets it off!"

They rallied behind a fallen tree that was still large enough for them to stand behind. It had been wedged between two other, equally large trees and was the sturdiest cover they had in case the reactor detonated. It was a miracle that it hadn't vaporized the entire area on impact. It wasn't even attached to the plane when Chief found it in a part of the wreckage, humming loud enough for the brute to find it in the first place.

Chief kept a subtle position behind Alexander as he explained their course of action, keeping a barrier between himself and the unstable electric type. They were unloading boxes from a larger crate that were filled with assault drones, and Alexander began to wonder how their actual assignment would have ended if they had been given the chance to complete it. Chief explained that they would use them to destroy the rest of the cargo, and then the reactor.

One little push would most likely be enough to finish the job, and Chief had finished going over the plan when they heard trees across the field start to shudder. The wind picked up and the leaves were torn free as multiple shadows suddenly raced into the field.

Kara's calculated arrival time was wrong. The toucannon were back with vengeance, and there was hell to pay.

Tell me how I'm doing so far, Is there anything I need to improve?