"Alex had another nightmare again last night... I can't understand why she won't tell me what she sees in it, I wish I could help her but... I just feel worthless." Dr. Sorensen said miserably, stifling a yawn afterwards.
"Hey, it's not your fault, If she doesn't wanna talk about her past there ain't really nothin' you can do about that..."Nic said, trying to get his boss to cheer up. Dr. Sorensen didn't say anything as they happened to walk by her, save for,
"So... Are you feeling better this morning Alex? Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?" He said, attempting yet again unsuccessfully to get her to convey her feelings, but she merely walked right on by them both, apparently heavy in thought. Nic tried changing the conversation to break the tension in the air.
"Well on the bright side I gave one of the vehicles and overhaul for the faster pokegirls... You wanna come with for the test run?" Nic offered giving an odd look at Alex, as though he saw something...
"I... Don't know... Probably if it will help me clear my thoughts but I've got to make one last round before-" Suddenly he was cut off by Nic head locking and noogying his boss.
"C'mon, know you wanna get outta here, it's making you a stick in the mud with all this work!" He joked, letting the doctor go to smooth out his hair. Dr. Sorensen sighed heavily giving it some thought.
"Alright, I'll get someone to manage my rounds, if it will keep you from doing that again..." The doctor said with a grin.
"That's the spirit, come on!" He said, hiding the awful feeling he felt... Something was off with what he saw...
...
As they got into the vehicle, Dr. Sorensen had changed clothes to a much more casual form of attire and Nic began checking safety measures for the vehicle via various meters and gauges.
"Alright, just to be perfectly clear, this is a test, so no wild dri-aAAAIIIGHEHEIE!" Dr. Sorensen screamed as Nic started and gunned the motor, launching the vehicle forward, pressing both men back into their seats. Dr. Sorensen stopped his shouting once he noticed how much control Nic had over the vehicle.
"Well, I suppose it could be worse, riIIIAAAAAAGHHHAHAHAH! He said, breaking off into excited laughter once they cleared a seven foot jump that bounced the whole off-roader on landing.
"So what type of vehicle is this again?" Dr. Sorensen yelled over the sound of the motor.
"Chevy Silverado, 1988 Model with a 454 Engine, towing and racing class stuff! I LIVE FOR THIS SHIT!" Nic yelled apparently having far too much fun with this already.
"I've got an idea! Let's p[patrol in the forested section for any strays that need our attention, besides we're in a heavily armoured vehicle with all these additions, what's the worst that could-" All of a sudden the sound of something scraping the bottom of the vehicle could be heard and several warning lights came on.
"OH, SHIT!" Nic screamed as he mashed the brake.
"Why aren't we stopping?" Dr. Sorensen screamed.
"THE FUCKIN' BRAKE LINE'S BEEN CUT! WE CAN"T STOP!" Nic shouted in terror as they careened toward the inner part of the forest, the brush line now far behind them. Nic struggled to keep the vehicle from fishtailing against a tree, but in doing so caused the truck to skid along the mud, causing it to go out of control regardless.
"HOLD ON!" Nic managed to shout. As both men watched they slammed right into the base of an old Oak tree, instantly killing the motor and smashing the vehicle's front end completely flat, knocking them both completely unconscious.
...
Dr. Sorensen woke to a throbbing headache and the sound of cursing and metal being kicked repeatedly.
"GODDAMMIT! I just fuckin' FIXED IT! GRRAAAGGHH!" He heard Nic shout angrily.
"Ooogh, What happened...?" Dr. Sorensen called out as loud as he could manage. The sounds immediately stopped and Nic ran to the side of the vehicle the doctor was on, looking through the now smashed window.
"Oh god... You okay, man?" Nic asked him.
"I've been better... and had worse... So what happened again, I didn't quite catch it amongst the sheer terror i just felt..." Dr. Sorensen joked, physically sore.
"Just felt? You've been out for about three hours, man and I can't move you 'cause you're pinned where you're at, see?" Nic said, opening the door, which fell off its hinges, revealing the dash pinning the doctor to his seat.
"I-I'm not punctured anywhere am I?" He asked frantically.
"If you were, with a crash like that you wouldn't even be talkin' to me right now... Listen, I'm gonna bring back someone that'll get you outta there, so I need to-" Nic started before Dr. Sorensen grabbed his arm.
"NO! I-I mean, you don't know what's in these woods, hell I don't even know! You could be raped, killed or eaten or all three! You have no idea! Plus you can't just leave me!" Dr. Sorensen pleaded.
"Look, it's either me leave or we both stay here until we starve to death, besides... I got eyes in the sky... Look on the bright side, at least I'm leavin' with plenty of daylight left... Just sit tight, I'll be back, I promise." Nic said calmly, as Dr. Sorensen released his arm.
"Please do.. And be careful!" He warned his friend again. Nic didn't say anything as he set out toward the direction they had come from. Unfortunately there wasn't nearly enough daylight left to get little more than halfway back on foot, even following the huge skid marks they had made coming in, and soon it was too dark to even see anything! Fortunately Nic was able to use his one choice Intel; An old communications Satellite produced by Pre-Sukebe Russia that was still operational in Earth's orbit. He immediately used the night vision tracker so he could light his way, but after a while he felt something watching him. As he had the camera zoom out to broaden the field of view, he saw nothing for a good twenty yards around him but he still couldn't shake the feeling that someone had their eyes on him. Suddenly he heard a sudden snap of a small twig, less than ten yards away and immediately he switched to a thermal image scan, suddenly picking up a large heat signature in the direction of the noise, slowly advancing on his position. He ducked behind a nearby tree, noticing a small dugout under the roots, and took his chances there instead of with what was tailing him. He noticed they stopped and began actively searching for him when he noticed they had picked back up on him again, and they were heading right toward him. He heard the noise of branches breaking under the weight of whatever this was and had the scanner he had rigged on the satellite scan the massive creature;
It rang up as a Panthress, Berserker-class.
He immediately thought of running, but knew any way he looked at this situation, he was screwed. By this time, daylight was creeping over the horizon enough for him to see flickers of movement right in front of him, and then... He felt her breathing, smelling the inside of the tree trunk, searching for the scent of her next victim. Just as she was readying to reach in and tear him apart, a far-off sound of a Pre-Sukebe animal could be heard, with a slight difference; Nic recognized the voice itself. Just as the sunlight came from over the treetops, he saw Alex come barging through everything in her path, ready to crush anything standing in her way. She t-boned the Panthress with a horned headbutt, tossing her into the air and swatting her like a fly with her hammer about twenty feet away. The Panthress then landed on all fours and hissed in an unearthly manner. Alex was undaunted as she stood in the way of victim and prey, daring the dark type to come even an inch closer. They stood there eyes locked, staring each other down before the Panthress began slinking off apparently deciding it wasn't worth her time. Alex made sure she was gone, then turning to Nic with a look of pure game face. He saw quite clearly from that angle looking up at her three scratches that ran up and down her left eye, confirming his earlier sighting. Before either of them could say anything, Alex turned and looked in the direction of where Nic had left his boss. Alex turned and bolted, leaving Nic to notice immediately that the Panthress had taken off in that direction as well.
"Oh... Shit..." Nic said, almost afraid to follow, remembering where he'd seen those markings from and as a result, just what Alex was capable of. He began running in that direction, hearing Alex still rushing through the trees, breaking a large path for him to follow. When he got to the scene, he didn't see either of them at first, but noticed the Doctor was missing from his seat. Nic stopped cold, scared stiff quite literally. Someone grabbed him by the shoulder suddenly, reeling him around to reveal the Doctor who pressed a hand to his mouth to keep him from shouting. He motioned for Nic to follow, leading him to peek over the edge of the crashed vehicle, and the scene spread before them; Both Alex and the Panthress were in that lock-on stare, each seeming to dare the other to move. Suddenly the Panthress leaped forward, causing Alex to yet again swat her like a bug, then attempting to flatten her with another swing, but the Panthress rolled and swiped at Alex, causing slightly deep scratches to appear, but Alex was unphased and thrust a hooved foot forward, booting the Panthress a good ten feet away. Immediately she got up on her feet again but Alex was already on top of her, giving the Dark-type no time to react; She brought her hoof down hard on her face, to where it mashed her head into the slightly packed dirt, causing her to spit and yowl in a ferocious tone. This was quelled when Alex not only grabbed her by the shoulders, but rammed her forehead against the Panthress' with considerable force, one, two, three times before the now-dazed Panthress could do more than groan. Alex didn't stop, however, and continued to pummel the downed pokegirl, now trying to run unsuccessfully and ground her hoof down on her tail, where several cracks and crunches could be heard. The Panthress' body could finally take no more and she submitted to unconsciousness. But Alex still didn't stop... She raised her hammer up high above her head, ready to bring the rain on the Panthress, ready to do the unthinkable. Before she could deliver the final blow however, Dr. Sorensen stepped in front of the Dark-type, causing Alex to stop dead in her tracks. The hammer slipped from her grip, falling behind her and causing her to fall with it. Her eyes welled up with tears and she began sobbing uncontrollably, mumbling over and over,
"Bad... Bad, it's bad... Bad thing... B-bad..." She stammered, obviously having another episode. Dr. Sorensen reached into his pocket and pulled out a medicinal administration gun that acted as a syringe of sorts, and gave Alex a decent dose of it to help calm her down via sedation.
"Geez, I... I have NEVER, in all my years... seen someone go down... that hard..." Nic said, remembering all too well what she had done back when Alex was stuck as an illegal fighting competitor. She did much worse things than this in those days, but she didn't even use her specials that Nic saw... As she started to stop crying from the effects of the drug taking place, Dr. Sorensen calmly went to sit next to her despite the mud and muck on the ground. As they both stared at the rising sun, Nic walked over to the Panthress and took out a Master Ball, and tapped it against the Panthress' body, trapping her inside.
*Sigh* "Well that's the end o' that..." Nic said, to which Dr. Sorensen said,
"Why didn't you use that earlier?" He said in a tired voice.
"I wasn't sure I would be able to actually hit'er..." Nic replied, tired as well.
"Well, at least we're still here..." Nic said as they all waited for Alex to come round.