Chapter 68: Decision Making

Garchomp had taken a much more leisurely pace than before and was comfortably gliding over the urban district at a considerable height. The wind was cold but wasn't as strong, it was quiet-peaceful in a sense as the two passengers could describe.

It wasn't decided yet what their destination was and so the two of them could only make conversations. Many buildings covered the cityscape be it small or large each presented its unique design and due to the presence of glass on almost all of them the city's lights danced in sync with each other casting an illusion on the observer's eyes, and on top of them since it was so late and they were so high up in the sky any noise or other distractions were non-existent. Of course, who could leave out the Prism Tower the city's focal point a single jewel shining brightly at its heart.

"Lumious's beauty really pulls through at night doesn't it." Cynthia pointed out.

Frost who was pulled out of his thoughts by the Champion's sudden remark quickly answered.

"I would be dumb to disagree,"

As he peered over the blonde's shoulder he eyed Prism tower which was quite distant from their current position.

There was a lot on his mind right now the remaining humanoid aside a lot of unanswered questions plagued his conscious, with the exhaustion from all of the fightings any plausible answers were clouded.

[Can't think straight.]

"Talk to me, Frost," Cynthia asked him worryingly

She had a knack for cornering him when he was open but it was not like he hated it certainly asking her would result in some answers considering she was one of the most tactical minds around.

"I..." he began but was uncertain whether he should continue.

The hesitation clear to Cynthia she sighed and began.

"Frost I would like to apologize... again..."

"Huh no, its not that...," that came out of the blue he thought.

"Hear me out." she interrupted and continued.

"It's clear to me that the way I am now I cannot help you, seeing Ember, Stone, and Rain fight alongside you showed how much I could be doing to support, I get that your job is dangerous but it is also a very important one at that so... I am sorry that I was trying to stop you from continuing, I let my personal feelings interfere with my judgment. So for that, I am sorry."

Her tone was sincere and it was clear her confidence wasn't low either unlike her weak display in the underground lab her words were honest and full of determination.

"So considering that I can't be as helpful as I want to be in any of the fightings I would like to help in any other way if possible, you can decide what's best for me here since I think you are a capable person and personally I... I trust you."

All the other Champions had participated one way or the other so it was obvious that Cynthia the strongest one out of them would feel left out.

As the leader of one of if not the most unique teams out there he was an idiot to waste talents like Cynthia's with the reason being to protect her, hell he had seen her in action before on the air-plane she handled the situation even under extreme stress.

They were partners... they decided it and the both of them agreed so why was he so protective of her... wasting her time and ability, if anything it was Frost who was letting his personal feelings cloud his judgment.

"Champion... no Cynthia you are my primary mission..."

A deep shade of red covered her cheeks as she managed to keep calm.

"...and so are the other Champions for my teammates, it is our job to keep you all safe but in doing so... we undermined your talents... I am sorry... just to make our job simple I decided to keep you guys away from all the action, but it was obvious that was a crappy decision on my part, after all, you guys are a great help and we wouldn't have gotten this far without you."

A genuine smile, Frost almost got lost in her expression as he somehow managed to continue.

"So with all that said and out in the open 'Partner' will you provide insight on something."

"Finally," she replied as Frost began laying down the facts but before that.

"Switch off the comms Cynthia what I am going to discuss needs to stay between us."

"Oh I turned it off before we began talking, well since Spark said he is always listening I kinda figured I should turn it off before apologizing to you," she admitted rather shyly.

[I am definitely an idiot for holding her back.] Frost thought as he slapped himself in his mind.

"I'll start with the main issue, the first humanoid caused a code grey meaning one of my teammate's identity was exposed."

"Mizushima?"

"Yeah... don't say it, it is already bad that you know about it."

Cynthia nodded and continued.

"So there is a leak?"

"Yeah and I suspect it is someone from the Kalos Branch of the Pokemon Rangers,"

"You sound sure."

"My suspicion began on the day I met you, the passenger list of your flight to Kalos was tampered with and the people responsible for checking it were of the Kalos Branch."

"..." She remained quiet gesturing him to continue.

"Ever since that day any assistance we received from them was either delayed or not up to par, they were doing a decent job so they don't garner suspicion,"

"This is not something you are supposed to keep to yourself, Frost."

"I already told a few people who are looking into this."

"Knowing you... you told Rain, your senior that Forester person and... someone you trust in the Kalos Branch... so Alex... maybe?" She sounded unsure about the last part but still gave her best shot.

Frost eyed her dumbfounded how was she able to gather so much with so little to go on with, how long had it been since they met five days? a week at max and the Champion was able to guess all that.

"How did you know Alex is someone I trust?"

"Oh she told me you were her senior in Ranger school and after observing you for a few days I figured that your relation with her wasn't simply of a Junior and her senior."

"You are scary..." he muttered in disbelief.

"You're one to talk." she defended.

"Anyways the second humanoid did not cause a Code grey but.."

"You're worried that the third humanoid will."

"Yeah so we need to find the last one quickly, Spark will figure out what he can from the first one's body but I doubt it will be much the person who planned this knows too much so I doubt he or she will leave any clues for us to follow.

"You are just worried about your team," Cynthia spoke without turning.

"Yes, the mission is your priority but ever since your teammates get personally involved you are trying to push them aside to prevent them from getting hurt." she continued.

"You aren't supposed to know me this well Champion," he told her with a smirk.

"What can I say specialist even though you aren't the easiest book to read I consider myself good enough," she replied teasingly.

"Coming back to the matter at hand... the third humanoid... we still need to find it."

"Someone reported the last one, right?"

"Yes a group of Rangers reported it in... they said they saw movement...aahahhh What the hell Champion!" Frost yelled at the sudden turn Garchomp took as Cynthia grabbed onto Frost who almost got flung out.

The Champion had a stern face as she tapped on the back of her Ace Pokemon signaling him to go faster and that it did as Frost tightened his grip.

"Frost the Rangers that reported the second humanoid said they saw movement do you seriously believe they would just see movement when the humanoid was that large."

"Fuck." he said dryly.

"Rain! Turn back." Cynthia called on the radio.

"Spark the location of the Rangers that reported movement," Frost asked on the other line.

"... got it, boss, when they reported the movement they were on the rooftop of the AGS building its a network provider here in the Urban District it's the building with the Large Antenna on top I have marked it on your map also Leader... it was the last location they reported from, be careful."

Spark worked fast Cynthia praised as Frost pointed at the building near the burning building Steven recently checked out.

There weren't any skyscrapers in the newer urban district but that being said communication towers like the AGS building were slightly taller than the surrounding structures mostly apartments or office buildings.

With the rooftop now in clear sight, Frost who saw the bodies first readied his rifle.

"Champion! Stay alert."

As Garchomp landed the two of them hopped off and slowly approached the two figures laying on the tiled floor of the roof.

Frost stopped Cynthia as he started to walk forward making sure the bodies weren't a trap, once close he lowered the rifle but kept his pistol ready as he checked for a pulse on the first man's body.

Cynthia knew his guard had dropped as he quickly turned the second body of another male Ranger and checked for life by the way his shoulders dropped she knew they were too late.

"No..." her voice leaked as Frost averted his gaze from the bodies as he scanned his surroundings.

He stood back up and voiced

"Champion pull it together."

Frost like Cynthia felt bad but right now he had to focus.

"The color of their skin suggests they weren't killed long ago the also they lack any signs of struggle whatever method the humanoid used to kill didn't involve any physical contact, but their lips have a weird residue on..."

"They were poisoned." Cynthia deadpanned.

"Yeah... but how?"

As the two of them began to look around for clues they were joined by Rain who immediately voiced.

"Oh, my..."

"Rain the two of them were poisoned, call it in."

Her blue hair bobbed as she nodded and radioed in the situation to Spark. It was then when her eyes caught a small glimpse of movement on the opposite roof.

"SNIPER!" she yelled while ducking into cover.

Grabbing onto Cynthia Frost dived behind an AC unit, taking the brunt of the fall.

She was on top of Frost and before she said anything to him she called Garchomp back, Noivern on the other hand was trained and immediately crouched near the tiled floor.

"Are you alright!" She exclaimed as her attention came back to the man who was lying under her.

"Yeah... I am okay," he told her as his eyes widened at how close Cynthia's face was to his own.

[Too close!] he repeated in his mind, thanking his mask to hide his flustered face he quickly recovered and went in to handle the situation at hand.

"Rain! Where is he?"

"Opposite roof but he may have moved."

"Can you take him?"

"I can but not knowing his exact position is a problem."

"Leave that to me just prepare yourself," he replied confidently as he nudged Cynthia to move off of him.

Frost rolled towards his Pokemon as he clipped his Pokegear on a strap and gave it to Noivern.

"Move from behind this Building and fly low until you are behind the sniper." he gave precise instructions as the Pokemon moved soon after.

Crawling towards the edge the Pokemon jumped down.

Designed for nighttime flying Noivern's dark features made him very difficult to spot in low light and he used this to advantage to quietly slip past the Sniper's sights all while flying low.

As the Pokemon spotted the sniper's position, using its claws it gripped onto the side of an adjacent building and adjusted the Pokegear's angle.

Rain tossed Frost her Pokegear and he synced it with his while she readied her rifle.

"Good job Noivern," Frost said to no one in particular as saw the silhouette of the enemy sniper positioned behind the protruding ventilation duct on the rooftop across the road.

"He's in the middle, be careful he's watching for us," Frost warned as he slid the device back to its owner so she could have a better look.

As her dark eyes fixed themselves on the dimly lit display, Cynthia asked out of concern.

"Is she planning to shoot back!"

"Yes," Frost answered in a hurry as he removed his long coat and took a deep breath.

"Ready when you are," he told Rain as she put the gear back into her jacket and tightened her grip o her rifle.

"3..." Began Frost.

"2..." continued Rain.

"...1!"

Immediately he tossed his coat as a distraction and as soon as it was visible over the edge it caught onto something and jerked back and soon got impaled on the wall ahead of Cynthia and Frost.

Rain didn't waste this opportunity as Noivern's earlier reconnaissance saved her the trouble of finding their target now she just had to steady her aim and pull the trigger which she did with lightning-fast reactions.

Cynthia barely got to register any of this and by the time she did Rain had already taken the shot.

[Wow...] she thought in awe as she heard the distinct sound of a used bullet being ejected from a rifle.

Frost on the other hand was busy inspecting his coat that flung forward after being hit by a projectile.

[There was no sound was he using a suppressor?"] he thought as he moved closer.

"An arrow...been a while since I last saw one being used."

He lightly pulled on the arrow that pinned his clothing on the wall and began to have closer look a slight hissing sound caught his attention as his eyes widened and he mouthed.

"Mist...?"

Dropping the arrow on the floor he turned around and quickly ducked under a punch from the humanoid.

"MIZUSHIMA!" the humanoid growled as it charged Frost again this time Frost caught its arm and pulled it near him, before wrapping his arm around its neck.

"How do you know that name!" he roared and began tightening his armlock so the humanoid couldn't escape.

"ANSWER ME!"

"Ffff...Fro..frost..." Voiced the humanoid weakly as he continued to tighten his hold.

It wasn't long before another voice shot up from beside him as he quickly lost consciousness.

Author's Note:

Been a while since I last posted but I wanted to get some points straight before I actually typed them, I apologize for the delay and hope you all continue enjoying the story. As always follow the story so you don't miss any updates and leave reviews on your opinions I do appreciate them. Until Next Time

PEACE