The campsite was bustling with activity. Pokémon and humans who wore shiny iron armours could be seen everywhere, transporting heavy wooden boxes full of swords and shields, pushing carts filled to the brim with food or practising their moves with their weapons for the oncoming battle. The noise of iron colliding agains steel was deafening for those next to the training fields, and it mixed with the camp voices to create an absorbing noise which buffered any other sound.
Unnoticed by everybody, a short Loudred came out of the central tent and climbed the wooden platform in front of it. Then, he coughed to clear his voice, and let out a powerful bellow that caught everybody's attention. Aware of its meaning, both pokémon and humans left whatever they were doing and walked to the podium, while the Loudred continued bellowing for everyone to gather in front of the tent.
A murmuring filled with rumours and assumptions soon spread trough the crowd, but it died as soon as a tall, muscular human emerged from the tent. He had black hair and brown eyes, wore a golden armour and helmet, which shone under the sunlight. A purple cape fell over his back, and a golden shield and sword, which had two violet wing-like ornaments below the shield, were on his belt.
He walked to the platform, and once he was on it he unsheathed his sword, holding it up in the air and pointing to the sky. Two ghostly hands suddenly appeared oh the blade, one holding the shield and the other grasping nothing. A purple eye opened and turned to look at the crowd, revealing them at the same time that what they thought was a sword was in fact an Aegislash.
As soon as the soldiers saw the sword pokémon, they broke up in cheers. Not a few of them knew the legend about what happen to the humans they recognised as fit, and that gave them the security they needed to face the upcoming battle.
"Listen to me," the tall human exclaimed, without even waiting for the cheers to dissapear. The sheer power of his voice was enough to rise over his troopes and make the cheers die out. "Tomorrow morning, we will face our last battle. We will be fighting against General Tyrrell's army." He opened his arms, and pointed at the crowd with the tip of his sword. "And I promise you, we will win."
The roaring returned, but only for a brief second before their leader started talking again.
"Aegislash has chosen me," he proudly declared, swinging the pokémon in the air as he would with a sword. "And Aegislash only deem to-be-kings trustworthy enough to fight alongside them." He made a dramatic pause, lowered the pokémon and continued: "Men, I promise you that tomorrow we will defeat General Tyrrell for good; and in no longer than one week I will be proclaimed king. And then, you will be rewarded for your efforts. What do you say, my men and pokémon? Will you fight alongside me in the last battle?"
The crowd broke up in an colletive affirmative roar, and the tall human's lips moved until they formed a broad smile on his face. They were his. They would fight for him until the end.
Unbeknownst to him, the Aegislash in his hand also smiled. This human had been so easy trick, so easy to control, so easy to make him unknowingly give him the blood and the pain he so much craved... The mere thought made him want to laugh and mock him, but he forced himself not to. After all, a battle was awaiting for him the following day.
All the pain, all the pokémon and humans that would die, all the blood that would be shed, made him shudder. His psychotic dream of crimson and death was so close to coming true...
And the human, lost in his dreams of wealth and power, would never suspect he had been utilised.