I'm wondering. Are short chapters or long chapters better, or does the length depend on the subject at hand?

Chapter 21: A Normal Day

"He's out. We can't have him jeopardizing our missions and objectives any longer."

"But-"

"No buts."

"Even if-"

"None of that, either."

"Jul's just misunderstood, that's all!" Nuwai looked up into the Umbreon's uncompassionate face, searching for some element, some chink in his stony façade to crack and exploit. Naturally, she couldn't find any.

Shadrach shook his head, folding his arms and staring down at her. "I can't think of a way we're misunderstanding him after he not only killed the Skarmory, but essentially hacked it to bits and shreds afterwards, not to mention that we had to forcibly store him in the stockades after he made an attempt on the helicopter pilot's life. Explain all of this to me."

"Well, he could have… could have…" the Gabite trailed off, first glancing around the barren landscape of the base before looking up at her far older counterpart. "Talal, can't you explain it to him?"

The Tropius gave off a longsuffering sigh, hinting that it wasn't the first time that he had to defend Jul. The Special Forces screeners had already given him enough trouble, and he wasn't looking forward to more. "Sergeant, Jul's situation is complicated."

"I've heard that more than enough times. Explain."

"He suffers from a mental aliment that none of us can quite understand. We do know that there is a certain medicine that can temporarily negate this for a period of time, namely two months at a time. However, for the past six months, we were unable to procure or develop this remedy because Tamsus had destroyed a good amount of our main base, including our farm, in a sudden tactical strike. Jul has been acting oddly since then."

Shadrach blinked. "What type of medicine are we talking about? And why haven't we been notified of this deficiency earlier?"

"We call it Qaffa, though your civilization may name it something different. The ingredients are hard to come by, and were impossible to grow since they came after us. As for why we haven't told you about it, well…." Talal shifted, showing one of his rare moments of uncomfortability.

"The truth. Now. We cannot operate as a functional unit without an elevated level of trust between us."

"My apologies, but I feel that it would not be prudent of me to disclose the truth."

Shadrach twitched. "This isn't about prudence. Special Forces is about getting the facts. We get the intelligence, we come back alive. We don't have intelligence, we'll be lucky if someone only gets hurt. And judging from what you've told me so far, there's a lot that you haven't been telling us. You're far older than I, and undoubtedly understand how Jul's outburst on our last mission endangered all of our lives. Now please, I don't want to have to play deception with my colleagues. We already have to do that with Tamsus."

"Sergeant, I have my limits as to what I can disclose."

The Umbreon gritted his teeth and eyed the grass-type's angular, defiant face. Out of all the cultural elements of the mountain 'mon, the foremost just had to be pride. He was more than aware that there was no way for him to force Talal to divulge information that regarded his honor. He couldn't play it hardball, either; that would simply deepen the rift between them. Maybe he could get Siria to ease it out of the Tropius later.

"Fine. We'll figure out what we'll do later when the next mission comes up. However, as of now, Jul cannot be a member in any tasks assigned to us until we get a concise explanation of everything. Ward will replace him in our missions if the screeners find him suitable. I really don't want to do this, but he's too big of a security liability as is." The Umbreon conveniently left out that he personally hated the Leafeon's guts, but that small fact wouldn't appeal much to Jul's closest friends.

"I see." Talal's face hardened into a stoic expression before he nodded and walked off back to the main buildings. The Gabite turned to follow, but she halted as something touched her shoulder.

Shadrach gave the Gabite a look-over before addressing her. "Nuwai, how's the training going with Sirius?" It would be a definite problem if she didn't get the skillset necessary to do their next mission.

She opened her maw, and then held it as she thought of a response. "Well, it's going good so far, I think. He's trying to teach me how to watch enemy movements, but I don't think I'm getting it too much," Nuwai confessed, looking quite ashamed. "Sorry if I'm not meeting your expectations…."

"Don't apologize. We all need to start somewhere." Though it would help if you accelerated your learning, he mentally continued. In their combat situations, she needed to immediately know the difference between an enemy and a civilian, lest a clusterfuck of a political situation result if she killed one of the latter. "When's your next session?"

"Five minutes ago," she responded without skipping a beat.

"Err… right." The Umbreon scratched his head, leaving an awkward silence to settle between the two of them.

"I think I should get going now."

Shadrach nodded. "Yes. Yes, you should."

He sighed as he watched Nuwai dart away, wondering what exactly would happen to their squad. The Umbreon slowly walked back to base and hoped wistfully that a potentially homicidal member becoming a definitely homicidal one and the addition of a rather overprotective Lucario would be the most of his worries.

Sirius brandished a knife at the Gabite before him. "Ok. When I attack you, counter the way I taught you. Remember, aim to incapacitate, not to kill."

She nodded tersely and gripped her rifle, causing Sirius to form a thin blue shield around the blade of his weapon. It would blunt any blows and prevent it from cutting into the dragon's hide, but that didn't necessarily mean that it wasn't still dangerous. A good club to the neck or a swift jab to the head could still be fatal.

The Latios immediately drew his arm downward in a slashing motion, causing Nuwai to pull back to avoid the knife aimed at her stomach. She let out a slight breath as she then swung her rifle straight into Sirius' arm, knocking it aside for just a moment before she jerked it in the opposite direction. The half-second of disorientation was more than enough to allow Nuwai to connect the flash suppressor on the end of the rifle barrel directly with Sirius' temple. With a grunt, the Latios fell to the snow, feeling an intense throbbing in his head.

"Very… good… ugh." Sirius cradled his head in his hands, trying to shake off the newly-acquired headache he received from the blow. "I think you got… armed combat down…."

"Are you alright?" the Gabite concernedly asked, kneeling down a bit to peer at her mentor.

He groaned and got up, smirking a bit as he shook his head one last time. "I'll be fine, I think. I don't have many brain cells left to lose, according to Levina."

"Is she really that mean?"

"To me, at least. Much nicer to girls than guys, if you ask me. Anyways, you're good for armed combat. Now, throw the rifle down. Do the same without it, and use whatever moves you want."

She set the rifle down, letting it sink into the snow as she readied herself in a fighting stance. Going through the same procedure as before, Sirius charged, upward at her chest instead of down at her stomach.

Nuwai instinctively ducked down to avoid the first slash, looking for the kneecap that she should strike to disable the Latios. However, she blinked as she saw an appendage that had previously not occurred to her as a potential target: a blue, triangular wing. She kicked at the center of the wing, planting her foot on it.

Contrary to her expectations, the wing did not partially give way as she hit bone. Rather, the entire appendage bent only slightly, allowing her to fully press on it. A sharp gasp from the Latios above her accompanied the dull force of a knife driving into her neck.

Sirius quickly righted himself before hissing and grabbing his wing in pain, bending it back so that he could rub it with both hands. "Unorthodox," he managed to get out between myriad grunts. "It only works because your boot is fuc- I mean, freezing cold. I don't advise using it against flying-types in general, because their response time is usually good enough to catch you on the move, like I did."

The Gabite looked down at her feet and couldn't help but agree with his simple analysis. It was definitely cold, for one, not to mention that dragons inherently were weak to ice. "But why was your wing solid?" she asked. "And how can you do that now, bending it back like that?"

"Part adrenaline, part thought. If you think it, it just happens. It's hard to explain, really. You'll understand it when you evolve and get Garchomp fins. Those work a lot like my wings." Sirius then bit his tongue as she saw Nuwai's eyes widen for a moment at the name of her evolution.

"If I evolve, you mean," she instinctively replied, sullenly looking downwards. "Like that'll happen in a million years."

The Latios mentally groaned, knowing that he would have to try hard to get her out of her angsty state. "Don't worry about it! You've been improving a lot, and it's only been like, what, a week?"

"But you don't have that desire, that impulse to evolve, though! Maybe I should have been born as a Latias or something…."

"Hey, I wanted to feel like what evolving was like at one time. My sis and I got robbed of that chance to experience it, so don't be so sad about not evolving early! Not to mention, when I was your age I was worrying about not failing in school, not about something that would set me up for the rest of my life."

"No, at my age I'm worrying about keeping myself alive and being sure to have enough food to eat," Nuwai snarked.

Great. And now she's not only bitter, but sarcastic too. "You'd give a Bagon competition any day of the week," he muttered in response.

"So?"

This time Sirius groaned out loud. "Let's just drop this and keep on training," he gently urged, drawing his knife out of his sheath again. "Alright, same thing as before. Keep aware, though. I might throw a few tricks in." Nuwai hardly heard the words coming out of his mouth as she readied herself once more.

To the Gabite, it was if each moment happened in slow motion. As the Latios thrust his knife forward in a jab, she turned her body to sidestep the attack. As Nuwai bent her knees, she snagged one foot behind Sirius' forward one, holding it in place as she aimed her other foot right at his kneecap. If she executed it right, she could give most adversaries a debilitating limp for the rest of their lives.

She hit the ground on her side, wincing as the Latios' leg left her vision. She quickly flipped on her back to see Sirius floating in the air, still holding knife in hand. As he shot down to embed the blade in her chest, she felt sheer rage build up within her. I've had enough of this. It's been too long since I've actually won. I need to WIN!

Nuwai roared and let out a searing Dragon Rage, filling the space between her and the enemy's face with bluish flames. She didn't stop when Sirius reared back in surprise, breathing hellfire wherever the Latios darted. Her red-tinted vision hardly caught the blue figure's form wavering for a second before her Dragon Rage consumed it in a maelstrom of fire.

Nuwai then closed her maw when a tremendous pain rattled her head. Sirius knelt over her, removing his hands from her temples. "What… how…?" she rambled, feeling quite awful from his treatment.

"Double Team," he stated matter-of-factly, pulling her up off the ground. "Are you really that obsessed with evolving? If I had kept still you would've given me a few third degree burns."

"Well-"

Sirius cut off her protests with a wave of his hand. "You evolve by gaining experience, not raging around and spitting fire at whatever you see. Evolution occurs when you have sufficient training and growth, except in the most extreme of cases."

Her attention was squarely focused on the last three words he uttered, though. "Extreme cases?" the dragon asked inquisitively.

"Deals mostly with psychological stress, though it can be physical too. Like an aggressive shouting match or a brawl. I didn't happen to make anyone evolve, though. I think you only evolve when you're on the winning side." He grinned loosely as he recalled the memories from years past, leaving Nuwai to wonder what exactly the sergeant in front of her had done besides keeping up grades back then.

"Not that I'm encouraging you to pick a fight for the sake of evolution, though," Sirius hastily said. "It's just a random thing in stress-based situations. No more, no less."

Nuwai cursed under her breath before looking up at him. "You work for rewards. They don't come by just because you try something chancy."

"Fine," she huffed, shoulders slumping a bit in both depression and exhaustion.

"Anyways, it's close to twelve-hundred. Want to go for lunch?" the Latios asked, referencing his wristwatch.

The Gabite's glare caused him to back up a bit. "Ok, maybe not," he rectified, taking hold of his knife once more. "On guard." He chuckled at the phrase before he charged at Nuwai, face losing all traces of levity.

"Thank you for doing this for me, Ward," Siria complimented.

The Lucario looked at her, ducking low to avoid the flap of the tent. "Not a problem, Staff Sergeant Long."

"You don't have to call me that, you know. Siria's fine."

"No, Staff Sergeant Long, I prefer to call individuals by their full title."

The Latias and Lucario stood before a mock jail cell. A bitter-looking Leafeon sat on a chair behind it, staring at the wall as if he could disintegrate it with his mind. "Can you possibly explain his tendencies? If we can't justify his actions, we don't have a choice but to let him go, and none of the others really told us much. Talal certainly didn't, to my surprise."

Ward closed his eyes and nodded. "Talal is reticent. He will never speak out of turn, and will do nothing but defend those he understands and cares for most. His unwillingness to speak the truth stems from the fact that the truth will sometimes tarnish the image of those he intends to defend."

"Ah…."

"However, this is an issue within itself, an Achilles' Heel, in modern nomenclature. His inability to disclose the faults of those closest to him results in a rather narrow, biased view of the world in general. He may be old, yes. He may be wise, definitely. But perfect? Hardly."

Siria blinked at the incredibly direct analysis, confused by the emotions she detected from the steel-type. No animosity poured from his heart; rather, a good measure of frankness and solemnity flowed outward. "Erm… why are you so blunt?" Not that it's a bad thing, it's just that it's a bit of a surprise to me that you so openly tell your friends' problems."

"It is a surprise to you because you live in a society where roundabout manners are standard. The truth offends, so society makes its best efforts to suppress it in favor of idealism. Hence, we have false niceties and attitudes that do nothing to deceive. When you are confronted with the truth, you are shocked. But," the Lucario sighed, "I digress. Let us get to the subject at hand."

"Right." Siria couldn't steady her senses, though. There was something about Ward that unnerved her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Was it the way he so strategically detected the root of her surprise? The way he was so easily inclined to highlight his friends' negative traits? The fact that he let a manifesto rip in response to a simple question?

"Talal is right about him having a mental disorder. Years back, Jul and Din were two brothers. We had high hopes for them both, as one was physically adept while the other was rather bright and cunning. However, as luck would have it, Tamsus found one of our hideouts, and in the siege, they managed to lay their hands on Jul. We thought him lost as an Eevee, so we didn't try to pursue after the captors because it would have been suicide to do so."

"Years later, I was on a routine patrol when I found a Leafeon passed out in the snow. I took him in under the assumption that he was a Tamsus agent, and that we could interrogate him later. After he awoke in our compound, we found that he was something quite different. He attempted to kill me the moment he awoke, which garnered this wound here." Ward unbuttoned his fatigues slightly to reveal a pale scar streaking down his entire torso, snaking inches from his chest spike. "After some interrogation, we found him to be Jul, aged considerably and evolved quite possibly against his will."

"To successfully extract the information out of him, we fed him a medicine called Qaffa. What Talal may not have told you about this is that it was a mutual exchange. It appeared that Tamsus was performing some experimentation on him, which resulted in his altered mindset. Reading his Aura also told me that their second goal was to increase his strength and speed, as well as promote rapid evolution, but I do not believe that he performed to their specifications."

Siria blinked, strongly reminded of a certain drug. "Do you know how they tried to do this?" she asked of him.

He shook his head. "No, I do not. There may be a way of finding out, but it was not our concern to find what they had done to him at that point. He was, essentially, our best informant. Every time we would give him Qaffa, he would give us key information, such as the amount of guards at a certain target or the names of Tamsus officers. Eventually, we grew on him. I doubt that he had any underlying positive sentiment for Tamsus, so he chose to join our movement."

"The last time I saw him was years ago. On a raid on the factory that you so kindly demolished several days ago, I got separated from the rest of the unit. They tranquilized me and stored me against my will. I would give you the specifics of my captivity, but I do not believe that they are pertinent at the moment. What is pertinent, though, is what you plan to do with Jul." Both of them looked at the Leafeon.

"Well, first off, if we give him Qaffa, he will return to his normal state, right?"

"Yes. He returns to a sane state for about two or three weeks if he consumes enough."

Siria knew just who to contact to find the modern equivalent of the medicine. "Excuse me," she stated, retreating to a corner of the room. Ward took a chair and sat on it, proceeding to stare at Jul.

Sirius. Sirius, can you hear me? she faintly sent out.

Yeah, I can- oh shit what the fu- Siria was less than pleased about the hemorrhage of vulgarities he let out.

Sorry, Nuwai landed a hit on me, right in the side. Thanks a lot, she heard him reply. And I can hear you cheering for her, too! Don't you have any love for me?

No.

Glad to see I have a friend in you.

The Latias rolled her eyes. Anyways, Sirius, I need you to ID a medicine that the RMs are telling me about. They call it "Qaffa" or something of that sort. Is there a modern equivalent?

She nearly heard him go into a minor fit of laughter. Qaffa? That's slang for a street drug, you know. Used to sell- hear, sorry, about it back then.

What?

Anyways, the military doesn't approve too highly of controlled substances, obviously. We medics aren't really authorized to use them, even though the doctors back home use it in small amounts sometimes. Some of the braver medics carry it around. I don't because I couldn't find any. Err, because I didn't want to risk getting caught.

Riiiiiiiiiiight. Well, can you possibly get some?

For you? Gee, sis, I didn't know you were into that stuff.

She snorted out loud. Are you crazy? No, it's not for me!

Then who is it for?

A patient.

Would that patient be you?

No! It's for Jul, alright?

She heard a short silence as Sirius considered the truthfulness of her statement. Alright then. I'll see what I can do, but don't be surprised if I get a week in the slammer because of this.

Well, if it jeopardizes your ranking and position, I don't want you to-

It's fine, Siria. Don't worry about it. A lot of 'mon do it anyways, so it won't be too hard to get it without being traced.

Thanks, Sirius. Just be careful, alright?

No problem. And don't worry; I'm always care- oof! I'm not ready yet, Nuwai! Siria could hear him shout, leaving her to wonder if Sirius was going to be as cautious as he suggested he would be.

She looked back at Ward, who was still staring at Jul. "We'll be able to get some Qaffa in the next few days," she enunciated.

"That is good to know," he replied, turning towards her. "If we are able to give Jul the medication, he will be at his prime. I do not know what possessed him to do what he did inside of the factory, but I can assure you that he is far more skilled than that when he is fully sane. The only thing I wonder about is how much stronger he has gotten since the last time I saw him..."

The two of them stood silently as they watched the imprisoned Leafeon.

"Here, take this detonator. If you want to be alive at the end of today, don't press it." Levina passed the device in question to the Vaporeon besides her. He gingerly handled the detonator, making sure to not touch it anywhere near the trigger.

As the two of them retreated back to a recently-dug trench, Din made sure to trail the thin, sinewy wire that connected his detonator to the claymore that rapidly grew smaller and smaller in his vision. Once in the trench, Levina took up a pair of binoculars to watch the claymore that they left some distance across the field while Din made some last checks on his detonator.

The Ampharos eyed the grayish box, expecting it to explode in a flurry of smoke at any moment. When it didn't, she annoyedly set her binoculars down and glared at Din. "Why didn't you detonate it?"

He looked up innocently at her. "Because you didn't tell me to?"

"Well, now I'm telling you to."

"Wilco," he replied with a sloppy salute. Snorting, Levina simply took up the binoculars and set her vision on the claymore.

BOOM.

As a multitude of puffs of snow kicked up before her, Levina widened her eyes and ducked, avoiding the five-hundred-or-so ball bearings the claymore expelled at the two entrenched 'mon. As she looked to her right, she saw that Din had a half-fascinated, half-frightened look plastered on his blue face. She could guess the reason for the latter.

"Din."

"Levina."

"Can you read?"

"... possibly."

"What did the claymore say?"

"'Front towards enemy.'"

"Which way did you face the front?"

"Towards the... enemy?"

"... Din?"

"Levina?"

"Do you know how bright a Christmas tree shines?"

"Yes."

"Very bright, right?"

"Yes."

"How much electricity do you think it'll take to make a Vaporeon glow as bright as one of those?"

"A lot."

"How about a number?"

"Afraid I don't know one."

"Would you like to calculate?"

"Using formulas?"

Levina's hands began to crackle. "I prefer experimentation myself."

"May I ask a question?"

"State it."

"Would you be experimenting on this Vaporeon?"

"... yes."

Din got up slowly. "Excuse me for a moment." He then turned tail and sprinted as fast as he could from the homicidal Ampharos.

As she watched the finned 'mon quickly retreat, Levina sighed and killed the electric charge in her body. She didn't feel like cooking Vaporeon steaks today, as much as the idea appealed to her. Rather, she was still obsessing over something a friendly Latias had told her a few days ago.

It takes time... you'll eventually get over it and move on... would you let the 'mon who died see you moping and crying over their death?

But how much time? she bitterly asked herself. I don't know how it's so easy for her to stow away her feelings, even though I've been in Special Forces for longer than she has. Or am I just emotional? No, that's impossible; no one can be more emotional than Siria-

"Hey," Din called, peering down at her from the top of the trench. "You're not really intent on killing me today, are you?"

She gave him a wave of the hand and sighed, but didn't take any action when he slid into the trench and sat next to her. "If you're really that peeved about the claymore thing, I'm sorry I screwed it up. It was an accident, I swear."

"Just don't do it again. Of course, that's what I told you last time. And the time before that. And the time before that time..."

Din cocked his head at the Ampharos. "What's up with you? Normally you'd start yacking and chewing my head off for half-an-hour about how I'm a retard and how 'all males are like that,' though I don't know if that's a good or bad thing."

"Nothing," she returned irritably. "I'm perfectly fine."

"Yeah, sure, and you're not going to kill me for all of these questions."

"Wait, what?"

He laughed. "You might think that you're good at hiding it, but then again, it's mean to lie to yourself."

"Do you want to start experimenting again? I want to know the answer to my question."

"Arceus no, but even if you wanted to, you probably couldn't, could you? I'm right here; take a shot at me."

Levina simply snorted and looked away, causing Din to smirk broadly. "See, you can't do it!" he gloated. "You try to act all tough and stuff on the outside, but when you get challenged, you ball up! You're actually pretty nice under all of that hate and sarcasm, huh?"

"Ex-cuse me?"

"Yeah, and you're probably pretty emotiona- argh!" Din retracted his foot as a bolt of electricity sparked next to it. "Ok, I'm going, I'm going! Don't kill me!"

Levina watched as the Vaporeon jumped out of the trench and ran for his life, suspecting that he probably wouldn't be coming back for a third time. What truly disturbed her, though, was not that she was on the verge of killing him, but rather what he said.

"I am not emotional," she stated out loud for herself to hear.

It's mean to lie to yourself, Din's voice immediately returned.

She protested, "But I'm not lying!"

Even if you wanted to, you probably couldn't, could you?

"What are you, kidding me? Of course I could!" Wait, what? she thought.

You try to act all tough and stuff on the outside, but when you get challenged, you ball up! You're actually pretty nice under all of that hate and sarcasm, huh?

"I am not nice."

It's mean to lie to yourself.

"Damn Din!" the Ampharos shouted, chucking her binoculars as far out into the snow as she could.

Siria eyed the Walrein sitting across her at the table.

"We have a new mission for Alpha Team," he stated officially, sliding a folder to her. "Here are the details."

She wordlessly took the documents and looked at the cover sheet, frowning as she read down the page. After reading it over twice, she asked, "Why isn't this something that another unit can cover? To be honest, it doesn't look like something that's imperative."

"You misunderstand. The target is vital to our strategy. As soon as this is cleared, the regular Army divisions will make their first attack on Riyaq. This is the only thing that is preventing us from making a full-fledged assault on the city."

"But this...?"

He nodded gravely. "Even though the target may not seem like a particularly important one, a failure to neutralize it will mean destruction of no less than thirty-three percent of our ground forces. See, this is responsible for coordinating most, if not all, of the Tamsus forces embedded in the city. It's true that any of our SF units can do it. Hell, it's possible that we could send this down to the Airborne troops if the circumstances called for it. But there is no room for error here. If we fail, Tamsus will be alerted of our movements and appropriate their forces accordingly."

"When do we need to perform this by?"

"Whenever you feel that both you and your RMs are ready for the task. The other divisions are on standby right now, prepared to move in on the city on a moment's notice. Thus, it should be known that as soon as you secure the position, the Army will storm the city. If all goes well, then we will be finished with Riyaq so we can move on to other objectives. Tamsus is unusually weak right now, so we need to take advantage of all opportunities we have right now."

Siria nodded tightly and stood up. "Thank you for the information," she said. "I will discuss this with my squad and return a list of required equipment a day before execution."

As she walked out the briefing tent back to the barracks, the Latias couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding. If this is so concerning to them, why don't they deploy HTR soldiers instead of Special Forces? But is it really that much of an issue? It seems so routine, especially with all of the other missions we had to contend with...

She shook her head to dispel her thoughts. Either way, we have to complete this mission. There's no use worrying about it. I just hope that nothing goes wrong.

As she stared up at the pale, cloudy sky, she reevaluated her thought. 'mon, I'm not going to end up eating those words at all. Not. At. All.