Chapter Two.

Machine gun fire filled the air as it echoed in the distance loudly, followed by the sudden cries of pain from men being hit from both sides. The sound of explosives ripped apart the rocky terrain of the mountains caused many men to cringe in fear of being hit. Mortar rounds smashed into the weakly defended Kanto line as Johto soldiers rushed froward with everything they had. Smoke filled the air as blood stained the Earth, both Pokemon and Humans fell pray to the in-human thing known as war.

"I repeat the Johto military has made their first act of war upon us! I repeat we are at war!" A young Army private cried out loudly into the radio set that was attached to its fallen carrier and his messenger Pidgey. The young private was covered head to toe in dry blood and dirt, his eyes were wide and his body was shaking. His words became jumbled up as he tried his best to get into contact with any type of HQ in Kanto.

Suddenly, the radio jumped to life as a low static sound began to fill the air from the radio. The young private nervously began to play with a few nobs until he could clearly hear another voice on the other line, "I repeat this is the communication company of the 34th Infantry Division. We have been getting emergency signals from the line all day, what is going on?"

The private was stunned for a few seconds before he realized he had to answer before the signal was lost.

"We are under attacked! I repeat we are under attacked!"

There was no answer.

"We are being slaughtered out here! My whole platoon is gone! I repeat-"

The private was cut off by a sudden voice on the other line. This one was older and deeper then the radio operator who had just answered.

"This is Major Koga from the 34th Infantry Division, what is going on over there son?" The deep voice snarled loudly as whoever he was he obviously was unaware of how quickly the Johto military had sprung their attack upon Kanto.

"Sir, this morning before the sun even rose they sprung their attack! A full on invasion upon the Kanto and Johto territory line! Thousands charged our position after an hour long artillery strike that split our communication, any type of man or Pokemon messenger was shot dead!" The private cried out fearfully as he realized he didn't have long before he was discovered by the enemy and he needed to pass on what was going on to anyone.

Koga was in shock.

"Sir... We have lost the line."

The sound of a rifle going off ripped through the radio head set as Koga stumbled back in shock as it was obvious the young private had been discovered by the invading enemy.

Johto was invading Kanto...

Three Days later...

Ash sat in the passenger seat of the olive green colored topless jeep in silence as his eyes weakly watched the country side fly by. His emotions numb from the sudden declaration of war and the sudden farewells he had to give his loved one's. It all seemed like everything was happening to fast and yet it seemed as if the news of the war was coming in even faster. Hour after hour a stack of casualties were being passed through command. The fear of a full invasion upon the Kanto homeland was feared, towns were guarded day and night, patrols roamed the region, and coastal guns prepared for a possibly sea invasion. Usually, troops would be transported by train to the central mountains but some high ranking brass thought it was a bad idea to pack hundreds of troops on one train. So, instead large convoys were taking off from bases all across Kanto heading to their assigned duties.

The 2nd Mountain Division had just gotten their assigned field... It was the Central Mountains.

Ash had been told that the 1st Mountain Division would be stationed at the Northern part of the central mountains, all Ash could do was pray that Pikachu would be fine.

Ash's mother cried like any other mother would when she heard of his sudden deployment. It broke his heart to see her cry tears of sorrow in as he hadn't seen her cry in years, something that his mother was to stop for and something that she tried to hide. Yet, Ash knew she was only a carrying mother trying her best to stay strong for her old child who she was afraid of losing. Without Ash she would be all alone.

Then there was Misty...

Misty cried for hours when Ash saw her two days ago while on leave before his deployment. Misty had heard the news of the sudden declaration of war and prayed that Ash would be stationed at the home front in order to keep peace. Yet, this was a time of war and she knew at some point in time he'd have to be sent over to fight. Misty didn't want to see him go and even offered Ash a chance to run away to Sinnoh with her before he had to return to break. Naturally, as an officer Ash declined but as a human being he desired that offer. With their final hour together before Ash had to return back to his base Misty gave him two things, the first was a small picture of her in her best dress from a festival they went to as kids and the other was her special fishing lure that resembled her.

With those gifts being given Ash disappeared from her sight as the tears caused her vision to become blurry and the pain caused her heart to become weak.

She needed him to come back in one piece.

...

The jeep came to a sudden stop as the whole convoy stopped. Several of the enlisted men exited the trucks to take a leak, or stretch their muscles. Ash did the same hoping out of the jeep he left his bolt action rifle slung across his seat and whipped the few beads of sweat from his forehead with his patrol cap. Turning around with his arms high in the air he roughly kicked the side of the jeep causing both Bryson and Gary to wake up from their nap in the back of the jeep.

"We win the war yet?" Bryson mumbled lowly as he rubbed his eyes.

"We won't win anything with you on our side," Gary snickered as he climbed out of the jeep weakly yawning as he stumbled to the side of the road to take care of some unfinished business. Bryson lazily joined Ash by his side the two of them examining the long convoy of military trucks and jeeps that was carrying their whole division off to war. It was truly an amazing sight.

"Um... Excuse me, do you men know where I can find Abra Company of the 12th Regiment?" A voice asked curiously from behind the two officers who weakly craned their heads around to see a young faced uniform soldier. He had long black hair that was obviously not military regulation. Slung over his shoulder was his rifle and in his right hand was a bag filled with papers.

"You've found them," Gary called out as he stumbled over to the three as he struggled to zip his pants up.

"I'm Private. Tracey Sketch, I'm from the Kanto Army Journalists Company! I'm a combat artist, sir!" Tracey cried out as he obviously hadn't been in the army for very long as he was acting as if he was still in basic training and had to scream out everything he said to an officer.

"Journalist... Explains the hair," Bryson mumbled lowly as he took a big bite from his standard issued chocolate bar that came with their rations.

"So, I'm assuming you're being assigned to draw anything you see while with us?" Gary asked curiously as he obviously knew the answer was yes.

"Yes, sir! I'm also suppose to take photographs," Tracey explained as he said this Bryson gave him a sour glare upon hearing this.

"Pick your pictures wisely, kid. I don't want to see any of my dead men in one of your newspapers," Bryson said annoyingly as he returned to the back of the jeep where he lazily tilted his cap so it'd block the sun from his eyes and prepared for another nap. His sub machine gun resting in his lap as if it was some sort of pet. Ash knew how Bryson felt as he didn't want some journalist going around taking pictures of their dead men, but it was something that had to be done to get people back home aware of the dangers of this war.

"Have you been assigned a platoon?" Ash asked curiously as he climbed back into the jeep along with Gary as he could hear the sounds of the trucks starting up again in the distance.

"No, sir! I was told by the First Lieutenant to just blend in with the whole company," Tracey explained nervously as he could hear all the trucks starting to roar their engines even louder as they prepared to start heading out.

Gary gave Bryson a sly grin before speaking out, "Jump in the third truck behind us they're part of 3rd platoon lead by Second Lieutenant Walker over here!"

Tracey quickly nodded in head with a huge smile displayed upon his face as he thanked the three officers several times before he raced off.

"I hate you," Bryson spat annoyingly as he playfully pushed Gary and then rolled onto his side embracing the warm sun light.

Jumping into the drivers side of the topless jeep was Brock the platoon sergeant quickly started up the jeep.

"Paterson was getting tired of driving, so I decided to take up his spot," Brock explained with a grin as he had always enjoyed being Ash's driver as it gave the two friends time to catch up while Bryson and Gary fell asleep in the car ride like usual. The convoy started up again until the mountain tops of the Central Mountains were in sight. The sky was no longer lit up by a bright sun light, but was clouded by thick smoke from the distance. The convoy was now widely spread apart to avoid being ripped apart by air attacks and everyone could feel a sense of anxiety hit them.

These was the real thing.

They were heading off to war.