Ugh, I am SO sorry for not updating on time. Life's been catching up to me as I had to do tons of stuff (summer project, college essays, job), but I shouldn't be complaining too much... Anyways, this chapter marks a transitory period in their lives as they get relocated to a new base! And a little foreshadowing at the end, too.
Thanks to grammaguy, hironada, and Galalithial for reviewing! And as Infinity WEAPON, ReploidCat, and Espeon Man answered, it was indeed Warren Harding who used the phrase in his 1920 Presidential campaign. To me, it was a bit upsetting that he won, but given Wilson's condition at the time, his victory was probably unavoidable.
Chapter 15: Convoy
Feb. 24
Training was slightly different today: instead of mind-bendingly tough, it was mind-bendingly boring. We had to sit thorough two-hour long meetings about not tactics, not strategy, but… history? We had to analyze the historical background of Ahan today, most likely for increased cultural awareness so we don't accidentally breach a social norm and gain a new batch of enemies. I didn't find it too different from history back in high school: you know, both morphs and traditional forms existed at one time in the past, and then the latter was killed by a disease, and then the legends managed to flee, and the second rise of civilization happened, and blah blah blah… I swear that half of us were sleeping about fifteen minutes in. Why Sirius was bent on taking notes was beyond me, but it kept me entertained (and luckily awake) for the entire time to watch him write, scowl, scribble, cross something out, and repeat for the entire time! Stay that way, brother; don't ever change.
Anyways, I've noticed that our daily routines are slowly changing from a forest environment into a suburban one. This makes sense; that raid a month ago really dented Tamsus' presence in Trinity, so they had little choice but to retreat further south to Ahan while we continued to beat at them from here. I've never been there before; since before I was born all of that area was possessed by them. I could write about how I'm wondering if it's a nice place, but that would be foolish for a good amount of reasons. The military's already put FOBs in the Drake Mountains that separate the cities and the forests of Trinity, so there shouldn't be any problem with striking out at Tamsus from a closer position. I dearly hope that we can bring this conflict to a swift close, but suburban warfare is never that easy. There are a few cities and roads between us and their main base, but the militia is dug into all of those areas. What's worse is that some of the civilians have actually switched over to their side and actively help them. I know not why they do this; maybe they hate the government or find Tamsus an ally. Some of them must have some circumstances under which they made their decision, like that Tyranitar….
Intelligence reports that those still loyal to the Halcyian government are essentially held hostage by their presence, so freeing them is undoubtedly our first priority. Apparently the main city that Tamsus operates from is Dakar, which is quite close to the border (I'd write a few other things, but the rest of what I know is OPSEC). It upsets me that Mirunas only chooses to defend their own border instead of help us strike an enemy so close to them; I certainly hope they aren't simply watching us suffer. Though judging from the consistent rivalry between Halcyia and Mirunas since the beginning of their existence, I can't help but suspect that they are actually enjoying our predicament. Too bad our civilian leadership is too docile to publically criticize them.
Hmm… I don't want to say that these sessions are repetitive, but they are. We had to sit through these meetings for the past half-week instead of actually, you know, training? Yesterday was about Ahan culture, Saturday was about Ahan geography, Friday was about some new weapons system we probably won't get to use in a million years, and so on. Ahan's still a part of our nation; their culture isn't too different than ours, save for a few modifications, so I fail to see how these will be particularly enlightening …. I swear that we've almost spent more time cooped up in a tent and watching poorly made presentations than out there practicing! But the day leadership takes our objections seriously is the day when peace breaks out around the globe. Oh well.
-Staff Sergeant Siria Long
With a satisfied sigh, the Latias closed her notebook, content with filling it with her thoughts of the day. She jumped down from her bunk and unlocked a small, steel footlocker under Sirius' bed, being sure to test the psychic-proof lock before using her key to open it. Opening a second, smaller wooden box, she saw the same familiar objects she always kept in it. Inside laid a set of delicate mechanical pencils she had gotten during leave a few months ago, an aged portfolio of sketches and drawings she added to in her spare time, and a more recent addition: a picture of Shadrach poking at her sides as she yelped and squirmed to get away from him. Siria was quite unsure of how Levina had the reflexes to take the picture so quickly, but after a great deal of huffing, blushing, and failed attempts to delete the picture off her camera, she had finally accepted a print from the electric-type on the condition that the Ampharos not distribute one to every guy on base. She had a whole stack of them, too, most likely obtained from a couple of ill-gotten deals with some of the office 'mon. Though she never did tell me what she did with the rest of the copies…. Siria frowned slightly in suspicion.
As she set the worn, heavily used journal inside, her hand brushed something cool and metallic. Glancing down, she saw the amulet that Wyatt had given her long ago. Although the memories came surging back as they always did when she saw it, the Latias allowed no emotion to make itself apparent on her face. Ever since the night after Sirius' battle, she had swore to not cry or even sniffle at the sight of the relic. The Wargle had given her a second chance at life, and she was more than certain that he would be offended to know that she had spent even a second brooding over his death.
Sighing again, she locked the lid shut on her trunk. The Latios lying on the bed looked away from his video game at her. "Finally done with pouring your heart out like always?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, I am. Are you done with that level yet? Let me guess," she interrupted as he opened his mouth to respond. "No?"
"No," he grunted, looking back at the two screens. A few clicks resulted in the whine of a bomber, the explosion of a tank, and a hardly-PG swear from the dragon. Siria wordlessly put a hand on the game, causing the Latios to relinquish it to her. She stared at it for a few moments before sliding out the stylus and moving battle helicopters here, tanks there, infantry up in the front, rockets to lay down indirect fire….
The Latias handed the game back to them. "There, done. And a C Rank? I don't think I've ever gotten that before." She giggled.
"Well, sooooooooooorry that I'm not a tactician," Sirius sarcastically responded, looking back at his game. He pushed a couple of buttons to advance to the next level, widening his eyes at what he saw. "Uh, Siria… what is this?"
She grinned. "Oh, only the most difficult mission there is. Even I had a bit of trouble of with it, which should tell you a few things. Good luck."
"Wait, can you-"
"No."
"Please?"
"No."
"Can I ask your boy-"
SLAP.
Shadrach looked from his magazine at the two dragons. "Need help with what?" he asked, getting off his bunk and walking up next to her.
Siria rolled her eyes at the Latios, who was rubbing his face in mock agony. "He doesn't know how to play well, so he needs to learn by himself. Help's the last thing he could use," she explained.
"Ah." The Umbreon bobbed his head in understanding, straining his eyes to get a better view of what Sirius was doing. He winced as the dragon ran straight into an ambush, tank units not lasting a single turn against two barrages of enemy rocket fire.
"Anyways," the Latias said, distracting Shadrach from the game. "It's late, and I'm going to sleep. Night." She gave the Umbreon a quick kiss on the cheek before floating up to her bunk. After a month, he was far more accustomed to her advances, so only a barely noticeable tint of red dusted his jet black face.
As he leaned in closer to get a better view of Sirius' travails, the blue dragon raised his head to whisper in Shadrach's ear. "How come she's so kind to you and so mean to me? Ever since you two got together, she's gotten scarier-"
"I heard that." A voice floated down from above.
"Not to mention prettier, smarter, and cuter, too!" the Latios said in a far louder voice, visibly breaking out into a sweat. This evoked a snort from the bunk above him as a humored Shadrach looked on.
Stifling a yawn, the dark-type said, "Now that she mentions it, it is pretty late. Good night, Sirius."
"You too? 'mon, what do I have to do to get some help?," he complained as the Shadrach got into his bed. The Latios then looked up hopefully at the Ampharos seated on her own cot, completely immersed in another movie. "Levina…?"
Despite her wearing earphones, she heard him and looked up. "Sirius?"
He raised his game, smiling Mareepishly at her. "Help?"
"In your dreams," she replied in disbelief, quickly turning her attention back to the DVD player and leaving him to suffer at the hands of the AI. He scowled at the Ampharos for a moment before looking downwards again. After a few more minutes of tussling with the impossibly difficult level, Sirius gave up, closing the clamshell shut and shoving it under his pillow. He fell asleep absolutely confused and drained, mind fried from thinking too hard.
"…so operate in that fashion when you have to talk with them. You know, tricks like, you take a gift in the left hand, these are the sunglasses that don't scare civilians, etcetera. Any questions?" A Luxray in the front shone a red laser pointer at each bullet point on the collapsible projector screen as he elaborated on the topic. He seemed to be completely oblivious to the more-than-noticeable sound of soft breathing in the room as about five of the thirty 'mon seated around the table nodded off.
A Latias sitting near the front smirked, tapping her pen on the blank legal pad in front of her. Hardly surprising. We already learned all of this before we were even deployed. Next to her, Shadrach looked on, equally bored by the presentation. Sirius and Levina, because of their less-than-stellar track records, were luckily excused from this particularly high-level meeting.
After listening to the pseudo-silence, he continued, "No? Good, I'm glad to hear that." He closed his mouth as the sound of a landing plane rendered anything he could say unhearable. After the noise was reduced a bit, he finished, "Today's meeting is over." At the announcement, those who were asleep suddenly woke up, conditioned to snooze through the one-hundred thirty decibel scream of a jet engine but become fully alert at the mention of that phrase. As the collective shuffling of feet began to fill the air, the electric-type held up a paw. "One more thing. I hope you all know why we've had so many of these briefings about Ahan and asymmetrical warfare in the past week."
The unspoken words, "Do tell," hung heavily in the air as all of them looked back and stared at the Luxray.
"The 10th group of Special Forces and the Special Troops element of the 85rd Airborne Division are being deployed from here to Forward Operating Base Fearow up in the Drake Mountains. There, not just us, but all conventional and unconventional branches will begin the final stages of operations and mount an assault on Ahan. Our optimal goal, as all of you know, is to finish this thing within three to six months and put this giant war to rest by capturing the leaders." He held up a pair of playing cards, one of which had a snarling Typhlosion on its face. The other had the image of a stoic Nidoking, serious purple mien showing neither anger nor delight. "We're very close to the end of all of this, and a joint task force of Special Forces and Airborne will undoubtedly lead the way."
Murmuring arose from the soldiers as they considered this news. "Sir," a voice called out. "Isn't that timeframe rather optimistic of us to assume? Counterinsurgency operations take time, not force."
The Luxray shifted uncomfortably at the straightforward question, fur slightly popping with static electricity. "Well, some would say that it would be," he said, being sure to direct all possibly indictment and blame to the "some" that he mentioned. "The top military commanders wanted to look good, so they promised the President a set of, as you said, 'optimistic' dates.
Another question. "What is FOB Fearow like? Anything like here?"
"Well, if by 'here' you mean isolated living quarters, MWR's, fast food restaurants, and the like, then no. You guys got lucky when you were deployed to FOB Archer. There are thousands of troops who would kill to be stationed here. Anyways," he said, distracted for a bit, "Base Fearow is up in the mountains, for one; it's hard to transport the housing units all the way up there. It was also made recently, so little, if any, of the usual amenities are erected yet. Setting up MG positions, base defenses, and communications systems comes first and foremost before anything else, though I'm sure you all already know that."
Siria could virtually hear the silent response, "As we did everything else you've talked about for the past week."
"So, tents?" the same voice said depressedly.
The electric-type confirmed, "Yes, Justine. Tents."
"Isn't it freezing up there?" Siria looked back to get a better look at who was asking. After a second of looking, she found a female Salamence looking a little more than disgruntled at the answer. She sympathized with her; as dragons, they had a national aversion to all things cold, especially ice.
"It snows year-round in the mountains." The answer was more than enough to make her grimace. As if he was responding to the Salamence's expression, he offered, "I have already requested the appropriate gear and dress to counter the cold." Somehow, Siria didn't feel that logistics would successfully fulfill the request. When Special Forces operated in the desert, they sent sets of olive green fatigues instead of the much more conspicuous tan brown.
The Luxray, after noticing that there were no other questions, said, "Deployment begins in four hours. The other members of your companies have already been notified this, and I apologize for your delay; however, as the lead elements of your respective groups, today's discussion was chiefly important. The trucks will arrive at sixteen-hundred, so please prepare accordingly. One duffel per 'mon, nothing else."
Normally, the various Special elements of the military were trained relentlessly night and day, so their complaints were minimal. However, his sudden announcement of the limited time they had was more than enough to draw mutters of dissatisfaction from them as they quickly voided the room, returning to their quarters to begin hasty preparations.
Shadrach was one such 'mon. "What else can you expect from them but to screw us in the end…" he said with measured bitterness. The Umbreon ducked under the fabric of the entrance of the tent. Siria walked besides him, looking out at the airstrip next to the conference "room."
"Four hours is enough time, isn't it?" she asked. "All we have is our fatigues, rifles (for you guys, at least), and personal stuff. All we need to do is take the sheets back to the cleaners and be done with everything afterwards."
"Well, yeah," he begrudgingly admitted. "But still…."
"You've also got me," she added brightly, voice lilting at the end.
Shadrach's face lightened at this. "That's true," he said with a bit of renewed optimism. But really, couldn't they have let us sleep on it for a night or two?
He looked at Siria surprisingly when she replied, "It's better if we go earlier so we can make preparations and set up base. Who knows how many missions we'll be tasked with once we're up there?"
"How- what?"
"You still think too loudly, Shadrach," the Latias teased. "Even if you don't know it, I can still sense almost everything you think because we're close together. Same logic applies to my brother; we often catch little bits and pieces of what the other thinks. Though I'm honestly surprised you still haven't…." She trailed off.
He cocked his head at her. "Haven't what?"
"N- nothing!" Siria looked away, blushing and mentally berating herself for actually spending the time to visualize one too many of Sirius'… thoughts. She couldn't think of a cleaner descriptor to express what the Latios fantasized of sometimes.
Shadrach looked at her oddly before facing straight ahead again. She almost always had these awkward moments, as if she was about to say something, but then reneged on it because it would be embarrassing or something. He didn't mind, but it still made talking to her a bit of an effort sometimes. Though the whole relationship between him and her was strange within itself….
By the time the Latias recovered from her moment, both of them stood in front of their living quarters. Siria looked somewhat sadly at the tan-painted shipping container. "You know, I'm going to miss our housing unit. I never thought of it as 'home,' but after living in here for eight months, I have to think a bit differently. Especially since we're moving into tents; those are the worst. The Drakes are cold, and tents don't exactly do the best job of keeping the wind out."
"We have to make with what we have," the Umbreon said in response. "And, as he said, it is the mountains. How do you expect to move one of these up there?" He motioned towards their dorm.
She nodded in agreement, resting her hand on the metal knob of the door. Walking inside, she heard a slight noise. It was too dark for her to identify the origin of the sound, but it seemed like… snoring? Turning on the lights, she saw a blue wing poking out of the covers on one of the beds. She was surprised at first; those who weren't in meetings were usually doing drills or honing their skills outside on all days but Sundays. Today was an exception; they were supposed to be packing, but why would he be…. Then, she realized that Sirius was sleeping in. A little more than angry, she glanced back at Shadrach. He shrugged, not knowing what course of action that she should take.
As the overly kind sister she was, she marched over to him and forcefully pulled the sheets off his body. Thankfully, the Latios had the decency to get dressed in his PT shirt and shorts before sleeping again, so she didn't see the customary shirt-and-boxer combination. However, even with all of the commotion, the dragon still remained asleep, muzzle dripping a bit of drool on the pillow. Left with only a single option, Siria did what she always did to him since they were kids. She rested her hand softly on his downy neck, lowered her head to an ear, and….
"SIRIUS!" she yelled, clamping her hand down. An involuntary shock rolled through the Latios' body as he shouted and jumped straight out of bed, banging his head on the wood above. Luckily, the already-weakened plank did not give way; had it done so, the mattress above would have came crashing down on him, as the other three wooden pieces could not have supported the weight.
He looked around, hit to his head blurring his vision a bit. "Who… whaa…" he said, putting a hand to his head. "What the- oh, Siria…." His face flushed as he realized that he got caught in the middle of shirking duty. "Good… afternoon?"
"Sirius," the Latias said rather calmly. "What are you doing?" Shadrach looked away from the spectacle, all too familiar with what was going to happen next.
"I swear, it's not what it looks like-"
SLAP.
"You're supposed to be packing, not sleeping! Arceus, are you mental?"
Sirius, even in his sleep-addled state, managed to get a grin out. "What do you think?"
Rolling her eyes, she commanded, "Whatever! Just get out of bed already…." The Latios did so, still shaking his head as he stood up. "You're lucky I'm nice enough to not rat you out for this… or the last time… or the time before that…."
"Thanks, sis. Nice to know that I always have an angel looking out for me," he replied, giving her a smile that was anything but earnest.
"Not buying it."
"Oh."
Huffing, Siria opened the footlocker under their bunk and began to rifle through its contents. She began to move its contents on the top of her bed: a pair of shoes, civilian clothing, a pack of hard candies, a multitool, several blank sketching books…. As she continued to unpack, she took her small box and laid it gently on top of her pillow, taking care not to damage or disturb it in any way. After she emptied the steel container of all its contents, she took out a small duffel bag and began to put all of the items back into it. While she continued to pack, Sirius looked on in amusement.
"Well?" she demanded, virtually feeling him stare at her. "Are you just going to stand there?"
He held up a significantly smaller bag. "No need. I already made my preparations."
"What, everything fits inside that thing?"
"It works. I just have the bare necessities, not all of the extra stuff that you brought along." She glared at him, but he hardly noticed. "NBC mask, shower kit, medication, canteens…" the Latios listed, watching her struggle to fit her sketchpads in the bag without bending them. "Everything else isn't terribly necessary for living out here. Air Wing guys didn't get all of the bells and whistles that Special Forces did; administration was cruel in moving us to this barrack and that section and just all over the damn place. On the other hand, it looks like you dug in pretty well. I wonder…." Sirius put a hand to his muzzle, pretending to think deeply. "Is it because you're in SF, or because you're a girl?" He ducked as the Latias chucked a pillow at him, laughing as she fumed at him.
Shadrach zipped up his own bag. "Not true, Sirius. Special Forces is trained to pack lightly so that we can be as mobile as possible, even more so than some of the special elements of the Air Wing. I'd thought you'd know this after a month in."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. If you eliminate that option, I guess it's because she's so girly." The Latios hardly had time to react before she threw a Mist Ball in his face, covering him from head to toes with feathers. The Umbreon couldn't help but snicker at the normally grey-and-blue dragon stiffened, completely blinded by all of the down clinging to his face.
"Oh, c'mon, Siria!" Sirius exclaimed, spitting out a couple feathers and wiping at his eyes. "You know I'm right! Ever since you were a kid, you've always carried too much stuff! I mean, who has time for drawing in the middle of combat?"
She shoved a bag into her bag brusquely and zipped it shut, content with all of the gear she was going to take with her. "Well, I don't drink, I don't try to beat the crap out of other people all the time, and I certainly don't go out of my way to hit on other guys, so what else am I going to do?"
"Yeah, but-"
"Sergeant Sirius," the Latias formally called, getting off her bed and trying to meet him eye for eye. However, it was a bit hard for her to do so, seeing that her brother was almost a head higher than her.
He looked down at her in confusion before his blue-striped face twisted into a pained expression. "Oh, Arceus, don't do this to me, Siria. Please?"
"I'm going to need…."
"Really? Not even a bit of compassion?"
"A box of grid squares, a bucket of K9P solution, and, hmm…" she trailed. "Several feet of flightline. On the double, Sergeant."
"But-"
"Your Staff Sergeant is in need of these items. Will you get them, or do I have to write you up?" Siria kept eye contact with him, trying her best not to drop her stern expression and burst out into hysterics. Shadrach simply smirked at them, feeling empathy for the Latios. He couldn't possibly remember the number of times others pranked him with those tasks when he first set foot on the base.
Sirius scowled for a minute, wondering if it would be worth it to actually defy her order. After all, they were going to deploy in three and a half hours, so he wouldn't get court martialed until the Miltank came home….
I'll also make life up in the Drake Mountains a living hell for you, he heard a voice in his head say. Who knows what I can do a bit of ice and psychic powers…. The inflection of her tone was more than enough to force the Latios to decide.
"Sir, yes, sir!" He saluted stiffly before marching out, leaving the Latias and Umbreon in the room alone as he went to do the tasks assigned to him.
Shadrach watched the retreating blue figure. "Siria, you do know that he's just going to spend the next couple of hours just screwing around, right? It probably hasn't been the first time that he's heard of those things."
"Yeah, but I wanted the satisfaction of using my rank a bit more. It doesn't hurt my conscience to abuse my power, too, considering that he'll probably find his own way of getting back at me later." She jumped down from her bunk, placing her duffel right next to the bag that Sirius left behind. Shadrach did the same, setting his things on Levina's bed and looking at the clock.
"One last time at the DFAC?" he asked, smiling slightly. He would say that he would miss the food, but then he would be lying. Sure, it was nice for the first few weeks when the meals rotated, but eight months of the same food was just too much to bear.
She looked back at him, sharing the same sentiments that he did about the food. "I'm not too hungry…." The Latias blushed heavily when her stomach objected, growling loudly in defiance of her statement. "Well, maybe…."
"You're hungry, no doubt about it. Now let's go," Shadrach returned, extending an arm towards the door. "Ladies first."
The Latias batted lightly at his face. "Flirt," she teased, taking his paw and dragging him along as she exited. A flustered Umbreon had little time to react as he nearly fell from the exertion she put on his arm.
"What the hell, Sirius!" Levina snapped. Four 'mon sprinted across the forward base, kicking up dust as they tried to get to the transport trucks assembled at the gate. They were running late for a variety of reasons.
"Well, Siria asked for grid squares, some K9P, and some flightline!" the Latios protested in response.
"Was it really necessary to put what you did there?" The Ampharos nearly tripped on a stone as she pumped her legs even faster.
Sirius looked at her in exasperation. "Well, yes, she ordered me to!"
"Doesn't mean that you had to put a bucket of urine and ten pounds of concrete on my bed!" the Latias in question responded.
"That was apple juice! And if you didn't knock it over we wouldn't have had to clean it up!"
Shadrach had nothing to say, taking the lead as the three behind him bickered amongst themselves. He strained his eyes to see the trucks in front of them, widening his eyes when he saw that the APC in front of the line began to roll forward slowly. The sound of the other vehicles starting up was audible even from their distance. As he picked up the pace, the others did as well, now far more certain of the possibility that they could get left behind.
"…ey! Hey!" A Salamence jumped out of the back of the last canvassed truck and shouted at them. "Hurry up!"
With an extra burst of speed, the Umbreon reached the transport and clambered up in the back, relieved that he didn't have to catch another ride and explain to some angry higher-ups why exactly he was late. Next came the dragon twins, feet touching the ground as they ended their short, frenzied flight. Levina reached the truck last, first unceremoniously throwing her bag inside before making what could be considered nothing less than an Olympian feat as she leaped and barreled into the vehicle as it began to lurch forward. The four 'mon then composed themselves, sitting on the wooden ledges at the two opposite ends of the truck as a Charizard and a Swellow kindly made room for them. The Salamence who had alerted them of the departure too returned, folding her red wings in as she took a seat besides the Latios.
"Long time no see, Sirius." She flashed a smile at him.
The Latios grinned in response, hardly believing this coincidence. "Same to you, Justine."
"So, how's life been since we worked together?"
Siria watched with interest as the two dragons began to hit it off. Her brother, the self-proclaimed pervert, was holding a sustained conversation with a female, out of all the 'mon she'd expect him to chat up. And a Salamence, too! The Latias thought that the noble dragons would have higher standards than others. Not to mention that Sirius didn't really show anything but his racy side to those he wasn't too familiar with…. Well, she could ask about them later. Pulling out a worn book from her duffel bag, she quickly immersed herself in another one of T. Banette's discussions of counterinsurgency tactics and asymmetrical warfare.
After a few hours had passed, she looked up from an infographic of rising violence in Ahan when he heard her name mentioned. "Oh, I haven't introduced my sis, have I?" Sirius said, looking towards her. "Justine, this is Siria."
The two girls looked at each other for the first time. Siria saw that she looked decent; not stunningly beautiful, but more than enough to allow Sirius to waste a pick-up line or two on the unfortunate dragon. Wow, I'm already feeling sorry for her. And there was a certain intelligence in her eyes, too, something that spoke of both book knowledge and practical skills.
"Nice to meet you," the Latias greeted, smiling warmly.
"The same," Justine responded in kind, shaking her extended hand with a claw.
Siria had several questions she had thought of, namely: "Uh, Justine, how do you know Sirius? And how is it that you're talking to him without wanting to kill him?"
She laughed in response, looking at the Latios. "Well, I would say that the first time we met involved me being pinned down by him while he was naked." A faint purple tinge appeared on her face, but she pushed it down as she delivered the line with a deadpan expression.
The hardly innocuous statement got the attention of everyone in the truck. The Charizard and Swellow, once in the middle of a heated debate, looked up wide-eyed at their fireteam leader. Shadrach, Levina, and Siria all dropped their jaws simultaneously while Sirius looked down, an uncharacteristic red blush completely filling his countenance. "W- what?" the Latias managed to choke out with great difficulty. "Sirius, I knew you were pervy, but, Arceus, this?"
"No, no!" he responded, waving his hands in front of him. "That's not what she means! I mean, err-"
"Mean what?" Levina asked pointedly. She leaned inwards, interested in whatever acts the Latios may have partaken in. He looked nervously at Justine, who wore a giant smile on her face as she watched him squirm.
"Well, like, I was assigned a mission with her recently, and I had to use my invisibility, and I don't have those fancy suits that Siria does, so I had to strip down, and something went wrong, and I landed on top of her somehow!" He paused for a moment to catch his breath, seeing the Latias next to him giving him an appraising stare. "Honest, Arceus, I swear! Don't give me that look!"
The Ampharos smirked. "Why do I find myself not believing that?"
"Really! I had to avoid enemy fire, so I jumped into the first cover I see, and then she's right there under me!"
She stared at him for a minute, trying to discern the veracity of his protests. "Hmm… I guess you're telling the truth," she deliberated. "But," the electric-type continued, eyes wandering up to the Salamence. "Justine, right? Did you enjoy it?" A quite noticeable element of lewdness made its way into her voice as both the Salamence and the Latios exchanged wide-eyed glances before looking away and furiously blushing.
"Levina!" Siria yelped.
"What? No!" Justine exclaimed in response. "For one, he's a pervert! No way I would enjoy that! And who has the time to even think about that when we're getting shot at?"
"Sometimes you can think of the strangest things under fire…. Sirius, did you?" The Ampharos continued on her war-path, completely oblivious to the incredulous expressions she was drawing.
If there was one thing the Latios wasn't, it was modest. "Well…." He laughed and looked over at the Salamence.
SLAP.
"You too?" he accused Justine, rubbing his face as she held her claw raised for another strike. Siria rolled her eyes at this; it didn't take a Psychic-type to figure out what exactly he implied.
Justine, still wearing a full blush, rounded on him. "You're lucky I'm only using the back of my paw. Imagine what would happen if I used my claws…." She flashed the gleaming white appendages out for him to see.
"Note taken," the Latios returned, looking downwards.
"But yeah, anyways, we've known together when we were on a mission, and that was it. Wish I could say he saved our asses, but then that would be a lie," Justine commented.
He looked indignantly at her. "What? What about the time I had to dislodge the enemies hiding behind the trees?"
"Point."
Their discussion perked Siria's interest. "Mission? Air Wing?"
"No, Airborne."
The Latias looked at her brother, who started to sweat under her stare. "Sirius, what is she talking about?" Siria knew full well that their Special Forces group was never tasked to work with Airborne until now, so she naturally concluded that something must be afoot. Shadrach glanced upwards from his book, also interested in what the Latios had to say.
"Well," he began. "You remember the time when you had to disable some AA in the forests some time ago?" Siria nodded. "There was an Airbone company that went in after you guys did, and I took the place of one of them."
Justine added sadly, "Bill's been discharged from the military. I guess he got caught that night..."
"Uh, Sirius," Siria said. "That happens to be in violation of an amazing amount of military codes, some of which regard OPSEC and other mission security information."
"Not the first time I've done it, and probably won't be the last time, either."
Shadrach could ignore the Latios' hapless romantic struggles, but he could not turn away at his revealing information that could possibly put him and other Special Forces 'mon in potential danger. Bookmarking his novel and putting it away, he started, "Now look, Sirius-"
BOOM.
The truck came to an abrupt stop, upsetting everyone's original sitting positions. Shadrach blinked once in surprise, quite offended that something had broken his rant.
"Everybody out!" Lamar roared, scanning the back once before following Erik out of the back of the truck. His tail flame glowed a bright, crackling yellow, a telltale sign that he was incredibly agitated and alert.
Siria kept close to the vehicle, maintaining a low profile in case a lingering Tamsus agent had caused the explosion via antitank rocket or other such projectile weapon. The last thing she needed to do was add to the list of casualties at this point. As she looked up, she saw a black plume of smoke spiral up from the front of the convoy. Looking past the other trucks and further down the road, she also noted that an APC had been knocked on its side, eight wheels spinning helplessly in the air. Several of the bags that the soldiers chose to hang on the outside burned brightly, leaving Siria feeling quite grateful that she was in a truck instead of a troop carrier. A deep, wide crater laid in the asphalt next to it, leaving her little to wonder about.
"Arceus, what happened?" Erik commented. "Hopefully there aren't too many casualties…."
"It's an APC," the Charizard reassured. "Usually when they hit an APC the 'mon inside get rattled, but almost never killed. Few bruises, maybe, but no serious injuries."
The Ampharos walked up to Siria, wearing a scowl as usual. "Wait, so was that a mine? Arceus help us if that was another cell phone bomb. The last thing we need is to take another walk down IED Alley." She wasn't particularly rattled by the event, having been in more than her fair share of attacked convoys.
"Who knows? Most likely a mine; we haven't completed de-mining in this area yet," Justine replied, scanning the surrounding fields as if she were trying to find someone.
At this mention, Siria became a bit uncomfortable at the idea that there might be lingering insurgents in the area. Some Tamsus units were dispatched for months at a time, and may not have received the news that the rest of their forces had already retreated. Now realizing this, she decided that a mental scan was in order. Closing her eyes and concentrating, the Latias amplified her search to all areas as far as her eye could see, ignoring those that she could identify as Halycian troops. After a moment of silence, she found that there were two foreign 'mon hiding… somewhere. As she too looked out at the plains surrounding the solitary road, she saw mounds of hay here and there, each one capable of hiding a pair of Tamsus insurgents. In that one! Siria pinpointed a particular pile, definitely sure that grass did not emit brainwaves.
Just as she was going to tell Shadrach about her discovery, the harsh blam blam blam of autocannon fire filled the air as another APC, hardly damaged by the explosion, began to fire on the position she had just located. It only took a couple of the high explosive rounds to set the entire mound on fire, causing two bodies to run out. The Latias winced as they succumbed to a virtual wall of lead and special attacks as all of the 'mon in the front attacked at once, not sparing a single bullet or attack on the targets. She was strongly reminded of Shadrach's story and averted her gaze because of it, forcing down the butterflies in her stomach she always felt when saw 'mon being killed. Shadrach emotionlessly looked on, while Levina already decided on getting back into the truck. And Sirius was….
Well, where was he? Siria looked around her, but the only blue dragon she found was Justine. Then she saw his faint winged figure leaning down over a body on the ground near the toppled APC. The Latias, both wanting to satisfy her curiosity and help in any way she could, made her way around the parked trucks to where he was. When she saw exactly what he was doing, she widened her eyes.
A bloodied Mightyena laid on the ground, writhing in pain. She searched for a proper explanation to this, looking around her and almost immediately finding one. Right next to the APC there was an armored jeep, its body originally obscured from their view by all of the other vehicles. Its left front was entirely ripped off, revealing the axles, pistons, and other metal parts that made up its engine and transmission.
"Fuck!" the dark-type roared as the Latios tightened a fabric bind on his right leg. Or rather, what was left of it. The dragon tied a makeshift tourniquet on the Mightyena's limb, which was completely blown off from the knee down. Sirius had neither the time nor the courtesy to perform a proper amputation, so several charred strands of flesh still remained attached, hanging off the jagged, bony stump and dripping blood onto the ground. The Latias shivered instinctively; although she had seen wounds like this before, she couldn't help but feel disgusted by the scene.
The Latios, just then noticing Siria, motioned at her. "Siria, hurry, treat his upper body!" She nodded, understanding what exactly she needed to do as her hands began to glow with a Wish. His torso was somewhat better, the bulletproof vest the Mightyena wore preventing most of the shrapnel from the blast from tearing apart his body. However, metal had torn through the non-protected parts of his upper body, allowing small rivulets of blood to stream down his blood-soaked fatigues. A few Wishes were more than enough to take care of the minor flesh wounds, sealing them up by encouraging the tissue underneath to perform cell division and metabolize more quickly. The Latias wasn't too concerned with the biomedical intricacies of her skills; she was more worried about whether she would be able to fix everything wrong with the patient.
As she worked her way up his body, she froze as she looked at his face, and for good reason, too. Half of it was ripped off, revealing a raw, red, fleshy face that normally remained hidden under a hide. Because it was impossible to wrap a tourniquet or other such restraint anywhere on his features, blood streamed down freely, matting the dirt ground dark and contributing a sick, powerful smell of iron to the air. As Siria tried her best to seal up the profusely bleeding wound, she unwisely chose to look above the Mightyena's broken nose. She gasped as he saw that one of his eyes was completely blackened, undoubtedly roasted from the sudden explosion when he unwisely looked down at the roadside bomb right as the explosion reached him. The other eye fared no better, leaking heavy amounts of blood and vitreous fluid from a particularly nasty entry wound. Siria recoiled in both disgust and alarm, looking towards Sirius for guidance. "Brother…."
"What, Siria? I'm kinda busy here," he tersely returned, tilting the leg upwards to aid in controlled bleeding. "Get me a sixty-eight Whiskey!" he yelled much louder. "And a medevac, at that!"
"Look at his face…" she whispered.
He looked up at her. "What are you talking abou- oh…." Sirius grimaced at the sight, already knowing that the Mightyena's vision was far beyond impossible to save. "Well," the Latios started unsurely, darkly looking downwards.
Siria looked at him, anxiety written all over her countenance. "Is there any way to save his eyes?"
"Impossible," he quickly ruled out after a five second survey of the dark-type's face. "Even with Wish abilities, the wound is beyond impossible to heal. It's just too complex. The only way to do it is though a Healing Wish, and I don't think there would be a Latias or Cresselia who would be willing to suicide to bring him back to health, if there was one even skilled enough to use the move." His face was grim, looking far different from the normally jovial one in the truck just minutes ago.
The dark-type spit out a considerable amount of blood. "Arceus… wha- what happened…. I can't see… and who's there?" Siria knew that she had heard his voice before somewhere, but she now knew for certain that he was the same Mightyena that she gave medicine to a month ago. She widened her eyes slightly in surprise before solemnly looking downwards.
Sirius groaned, knowing that there would be no way to pad the depressing news. He leaned down to his ear and whispered, "Dude, your leg's gone. And so are your eyes."
"What?" The dark-type's muzzle froze as he slowly absorbed the news. He tried to raise his arms, but both of the dragons were quick to restrain him. After putting up a light struggle, the Mightyena gave up and relaxed as much as a suddenly blinded amputee could. "Oh, Arceus…. What… that doesn't… even…." Both of the dragons looked down with downcast eyes, knowing that if he could cry, he would.
A Pidgeot ran up to them, clipboard in hand. "Soldier! How many casualties have you- holy mother of Arceus." His rapid question evaporated in his throat as he saw the Mightyena's mangled body.
"One, sir," Sirius replied morosely, looking away from the whimpering dark-type for a moment. "Also, where the hell is the medevac?"
"They've dispatched a couple choppers from FOB Archer right when they got news of the attack. It should take them fifteen more minutes, tops."
The Latios looked indignantly at him. "Fifteen minutes? Listen, I'm a medic, and I can say that he is probably going to die without treatment. For one, he's running out of blood, and two, only Arceus knows what kind of brain trauma's he had."
"Sorry," the flying-type responded, shrugging and sighing. "If I could I would fly him on my back, and I'm sure you would too, but in my unprofessional opinion, I don't think we could do so without further harming him. And…." The Pidgeot's voice faltered as he looked downwards at the body. "Is he really going to die?"
"Who knows? If they have a fresh supply of blood on board, he'll probably make it. For right now, though? It's up for Arceus to decide."
Sombered by Sirius' pragmatic reply, the Pidgeot left them far more slowly than he arrived, walking as if he were in a trance. Siria looked at the retreating figure, eyes softening in sympathy. "Sirius… is what you said true?"
He looked down at the now unconscious Mightyena. The tourniquet seemed to be working, as less and less blood streamed out of his thigh. Siria's Wishes also seemed to be having a positive effect, torn half of his face letting less fluid out. "Yeah," the Latios sighed. "He looks alright now, but we honestly don't know how much he's lost between then and now. He could only use one infusion, or maybe three. Who knows? All we can do now is watch him to see if he goes into shock or something."
The Latias nodded at his reply, looking out forlornly at the plains. The seemingly innocent range could hold more threats for them, possibly some that were even out of her scanning range. And as Justine mentioned before, there could also be mines further up the road. And she thought that this was going to be a relatively safe trip, too….
The fifteen minutes passed like seconds to her. She turned around at a faint whup, whup, looking up at the faint silhouette of a transport chopper. Sirius popped a smoke grenade, tossing it out at an open space close to their position. The helicopter noticed the purple plume and changed its orientation, coming in close enough so that Siria could see the red cross painted on its underbelly.
As soon as it landed, three medics piled out, looking at the shouting Latios and the Mightyena he guarded. An Espeon pushed a stretcher up to their position while the two other 'mon ran to attend to another casualty elsewhere.
"Siria, help us put him on the stretcher," her brother ordered. The Latias crouched down in sync with him, nodding as each one of them put their hands under his torso. The newly arrived psychic-type took hold of his single leg, pulling the Mightyena onto the stretcher as all three of them lifted him off the ground. After Sirius gave the medic a quick runthrough of the dark-type's status (Siria caught the words hypovolemia, ballistic trauma, and hyaloid canal), the Latios helped her run the bed back to the waiting chopper.
The dragon looked up at him after he returned back to her, the cool blast of the helicopter's rotor wash passing over the two of them. "So?"
"So, he may or may not live. Same as before," he said tiredly. "Anyways, we should get going again. I think they fixed the problem." The Latios motioned towards where the APC was toppled. A pair of Machamp dusted their four hands, having pushed the armored vehicle back on its wheels.
As the siblings clambered back into their truck, the others 'mon started when they saw the blood that stained Sirius' normally blue hands. "Sirius," Justine said hesitatingly, staring at him. "What happened?"
He grunted and turned away, not caring about the slowly crusting fluid. "Tired. Don't want to talk about it." The Salamence blinked at his unresponsiveness before turning to Siria. She had a similar weary expression on her face, staring outside as she got a better understanding of what exactly Sirius did day in and day out.
As the truck jolted forward again, several of the passengers managed to get a look at a charred, half-destroyed armored jeep on the side of the road. As they looked back at the Lati pair, it took them little time to figure out what happened. To Siria's immense satisfaction, they remained fairly quiet about the issue, sobering air reigning as only Lamar and Erik whispered to each other. As the others immersed themselves in their own tasks, the Latias stared out at the passing ground, continuing to do so even as it turned from green to white. She bristled at the indication that they were on the way to the Drake Mountains, getting the feeling that what happened today was soon going to be the least of their worries.