First Contact

by Yakolev

A Halcyian Special Forces unit, one of many tasked with hunting a powerful militia, finds that rifles and missiles are not the only things that define their war. Instead, a shadowy force lurks, one whose surface has not even been scratched... AU/anthro

24. Ascendency

So uh, sorry for being out of commission for the past three weeks. Had to put in some more college apps (got deferred from MIT D:) as well as other stressing irl stuff. Hopefully the longer-than-usual chapter will make up for it. There's a little MW2 reference in there somewhere (D.C. Burning, anyone?).

---

Chapter 24: Ascendancy

A brass cartridge pinged as it fell to the ground. The Typhlosion stood triumphantly over Talal, smiling as if he had just felled a nefarious dictator or been crowned the savior of his kind. Nuwai kept her head turned and eyes shut. She didn't want to know, to see a scene that would turn her beliefs into reality.

"Huh," she heard Aiden say. "That's strange. He's not dead. But why...?"

Transfixed by this statement, the Gabite opened her eyes. She was then treated to one of the more gory scenes of her life.

Her vision blurred once more as she saw her mentor lying face-down on the ground. The stone wall before him was showered with an incredible amount of blood, intermittent pieces of gray matter and fragments disrupting the otherwise uniform painting. The Tropius' head bled profusely as his fading heartbeat continued to provide blood to fill the cracks in the ashen gray tiles.

"Oops. I guess I was wrong. My bad." Nuwai only raised her head to growl indignantly at the slightly grinning monster. She had heard tales about the Typhlosion: a despicable fire-type who had used prisoners as test subjects for horrific experiments on a whim. Word of mouth at their old camp years back revealed that Jul had been one of those participants, but she knew no more than that. Talal remained austere, and told her nothing of the Leafeon's background.

He had been loyal to the end, putting his life on the line to come return to them in support. The Gabite assumed that he had too protected her from the homicidal tendencies of the fire-type, though she would probably never get the chance to know the exact circumstances.

And what did he earn for this? What was the world's repayment for his determination and kindness?

A bullet in the head, Nuwai grimly surmised. Had she known what Ward said about the Tropius, she would have fully concurred but also defend her mentor to the death.

She already knew that Aiden was an individual far removed from moral character, but this... this was too much. This was impossible for her to realize. She could hardly comprehend the sheer animosity and antisocial will necessary to execute an elderly 'mon in front of a fourteen year old, no less. True, as a soldier for the past several years of her life, she had seen her fair share of deaths. However, none came even a hair close as to what played out before her.

But even as she harbored these thoughts, Nuwai felt no sadness, no depression, no angst from the sight of her dead father figure. She knew these emotions could wait until later, when she was in a more dignified place for mourning.

The Gabite had heard somewhere that revenge was a confession of pain. She might have heard it when she and Talal sat around a fire fueled by the last pieces of wood they carried, or when he had passed by her when she was training in the caverns. She didn't doubt for a moment that the Tropius was the one who had imparted the idea to her, though.

As she saw Aiden bend down to the Tropius' corpse, she reached a bitter conclusion. Perhaps revenge was a confession of pain. Perhaps Talal was spot-on with that remark.

Well, good. She was in a world of pain; that much was certain. And even if she had to go through the Distortion and back, Nuwai intended to show Aiden what agony he had wrought upon her and repay the debt twofold.

No, no, not twofold. Not threefold. Not even tenfold. No amount of suffering could equate what she was going through with what she desired the Typhlosion to feel. Even Arceus himself wouldn't, couldn't exact the amount of justice that she wished placed upon Aiden.

She knew that only she would be the one responsible for bringing him down to his knees and making him beg for mercy which she would never give.

That was the plan, at least. The fruition of it all depended on what she could do then.

"Get away from him!" she screamed at the fire-type. He had his paw in one of his breast pockets, as if scrummaging for some tool. "Or- or I'll kill you!"

He looked up and eyed her, humored by her cry. "Kill me? How? And why would you want to kill me? And, ah, here it is." He pulled out a syringe and a bottle of dark fluid.

The Typlosion stuck the needle into the small jar ceremoniously, sucking all of the liquid up with a single release of the plunger. "If you killed me," he said placidly, "I wouldn't be able to resurrect this Tropius that you obviously don't know."

Nuwai narrowed her eyes at him, not allowing her shocked reaction to grace her mien for even a moment. Underneath, though, her mind was whirling. Was he lying? He had to be lying; the Gabite's beliefs and presumptions were planted so deeply that no amount of convincing could uproot them.

But could Talal really be revived? Living? She tried to grasp the concept of a medicine that would render a dead 'mon living once more, but it eluded her.

"You bastard!" she heard Jul yell. "Lies! All damned lies!"

The Typhlosion looked back sternly. "Don't talk to your benefactor that way. It's rude."

"Benefactor? You really think-"

Aiden sighed. "Do you really want to have this conversation again?"

"You-"

"Good. Neither do I. Now shut up before I have to kill you. I'm in the middle of a very detailed process here, and the last thing I need is for you to distract me further."

Aiden began searching for the Tropius' neck after he finished his retort. Nuwai simply continued to stare at the fire-type, still trying to digest what he had said earlier. Every neuron in her brain screamed that he was hoaxing when he claimed the ability to bring Talal back to life, but a small, hopeful, and foolishly optimistic part of her silently willed her to believe the self-proclaimed "scientist."

The Typhlosion hummed in satisfaction. "Here it is," he said proudly, as if he was a child who had found a lost toy within his room. He eyed his syringe for a moment, and then poised to stick it in the grass-type's neck.

It was to his utmost surprise when the needle suddenly shattered, spraying the ground with glass and black substance. He growled and turned to the only possible source of the disruption: a Latias whose eyes glowed defiantly.

Bright amber met crimson red as she gave the Typhlosion a glare that would cause Arceus to rear back in alarm. "You coward," she said evenly, angry tears streaming down her cheeks. "You bastard. You monster. You sadistic, cruel, twisted, manipulative beast." She stopped her invocations there, unable to find a term that quite matched his feelings toward him, mostly because there was no word in her vocabulary that could illustrate her deep-seated hatred for him.

"Did you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"My mother is dead," she hissed.

"And so is your boyfriend and brother. Oh dear. What does it feel like to live in a world where nobody loves you?"

He tutted as he saw the trademark blue mist begin to appear around her maw. "Oh, looks like the medicine's wearing off. Don't attack, or I'll break your jaw. All I have to do is stand in the corner where you can't hit me with a Dragon Pulse or any other ludicrous attack you can foment. Those shackles should be able to resist the attacks if my contractor did his calculations right. Test them; if they don't, I know that I have one more 'mon to kill tomorrow."

The Latias knew better not to play into his ploy. If she tried to attack the bonds and failed to break them, they would superheat under the stress of her Dragon Pulse and burn her wrists and ankles. She scowled darkly and tried to focus her mind on deconstructing the Typhlosion's.

Aiden saw her face contort, immediately recognizing what she was trying to do. "Oh, Siria, Siria. You might have had enough power to get the tape off your mouth, but you surely don't have enough to harm me. On that note, you need to be shut up again, as much as I'd love to hear you scream as I torture you."

He approached her with a brand new syringe in hand, swiftly extracting a white medicine out of a bottle and plunging it into her scarred arm.

"Nuwai, don't believe him!" she shouted, aware that she only had seconds' worth of freedom left before she was once again incapacitated. "He wants to turn Talal into that Skarmory! He want to turn him into a Shadow Po-"

"Don't tell her too much now." Her voice was cut off as the Typhlosion caught her muzzle and wrapped several extra layers of duct tape of it for good measure.

As he looked back at the Tropius, his face screwed up into a frown. "Siria, do you realize what you just did? You destroyed my last good sample. I was saving that, you know. You destroyed an entire month's worth of research. Do you know how long it took to procure that sample?"

The slight gleam of triumph in her eyes didn't quite escape the fire-type. "That's why I made a few extras," he continued, outstretching his paw to reveal two other bottles of the formula. "I should have made an third one for that Gabite girl, though. I'm sure she'd love to enjoy the effects of Shadow along with you."

Nuwai gave no reaction to the threat, having had something sparked within her by the Latias' previous comment. Talal? A Shadow Pokemon? What was a Shadow Pokemon?

She imagined the steel-type's beak twisted into a horrible, maniacal smile, and shuddered at the thought. It wasn't hard for her to remember the mutilated, discolored, disgusting figure she had seen many nights prior.

So there was a cost of resurrection. The Gabite could have guessed that there were gross repercussions for defying the laws of nature, but seeing the "saved" 'mon rise in a ghastly, zombie-like manner was hardly near the top of her list of consequences.

She growled slightly as Aiden bent down to the Tropius corpse with a fresh syringe in hand. She had hoped previously that Talal could be brought back to life, yes, but not in the manner that Siria suggested it!

It angered her that the Typhlosion could have such a immense disregard for life. It angered her that he could kill so easily. It angered her that he would go as far as to use the dead for his sadistic medical experiments.

And with this anger, the raw revenge she craved tore a hole in her stoic expression and fully expressed itself. She snarled and beat against her restraints as the fire-type poised once more to inject the Tropius. He had a knowing smile plastered on his face, derived from the knowledge that nothing would stop him.

Nuwai's mind whirled. Talal was dead. She was surprised at not the fact itself, but the realization that she had come to terms with it so quickly. Or that may have been the revenge speaking. She didn't quite know.

What she did know was that the sadistic scientist before her was about to desecrate the remnants of her mentor... no, not mentor. Ally. Comrade. Friend. Father. Loved one. He was about to commit a sacrilegious act, something that should never happen in this world.

And she was going to do something about it, no matter if restraints held her back or not.

Something clicked within the Gabite's mind at that moment. It was not rage, not sorrow, not even anger. As she began to glow a brilliant white, she realized that the only thing that fueled her now was raw determination, a desire to set things right.

Her bright claws were first, elongating outwards from the pale, minor ones that they previously were. Spikes jutted outwards on her arms and tore the fabric of her fatigues. The fins on her forearms grew down and outwards, turning into appendages more worthy of flight. She squirmed slightly as her back fin grew and flattened against the wall.

The Gabite's angular nose seemed to grow outwards, a yellow cross spreading on its tip. She narrowed her eyes as her jawline widened to be more in form with that of her evolution. The stubby, pointed tail she had always been used to grew outwards and pleated into a pair of fins at the end.

As Nuwai looked down at herself, she noted that she had grown a foot or so; her fatigues had ripped at multiple seams, not able to contain her sudden growth. Modesty wasn't at the forefront of her concerns, though.

On the other hand, killing the Typhlosion who was looking at her oddly was priority one.

The Garchomp growled fiercely. She looked at the shackles with a pained expression before flicking her tail upwards at them. The long blue length turned a hard, steel gray as it beat mercilessly upon them.

"Evolution under stress. That's interesting," Aiden said as he set the needle down. "There've only been a few documented cases of this, and I've been witness to one this very afternoon! I'm quite lucky! Even more so, because I get to experiment with you after..."

He widened his eyes at the multiple cracking sounds that echoed throughout the entire room.

"... the fact?" For the first time any of the 'mon had seen him, Aiden looked truly perplexed.

No one was able to catch the Typhlosion's next expression as Nuwai tackled him straight through the wall.

---

"Sirius! Mount up!" Amidst the whine of helicopter rotors and roars of tank engines, the Latios could hear the Ampharos' feminine voice call him. In his crazed dash to get to the jeep, he ran straight into the path of another one, eliciting a fair amount of cursing and "Fuck you's." He remained unabashed of all of the commotion, though, and secured the last seat in the vehicle with haste.

As the jeep rolled out of Base Fearow's gates, Sirius took a moment to survey the other 'mon sitting inside. Shadrach was driving, Din sat in the front, an unknown Jolteon manned the gun turret, and Levina sat besides him. Unsurprised by the arrangement, he quickly retreated to his quiet thoughts and worries.

"Hey, Levina?" the Jolteon asked.

She looked up at him. "Jackson?"

"What's up with these guns? They're rotary."

She sighed. "And?"

"Why'd you guys install rotary guns?"

"Because they made us." She turned her head sideways, trying to communicate that she was already done with the conversation.

However, Jackson was just warming up his tirade. "Rotary guns don't work. These things are built into the jeep, which means when our ride gets totaled, we can't lug it out to use. If we had our regular gun, then-"

"Jackson?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

He gave her a dirty look, but nothing more.

"Why oh why couldn't we have had someone else from our squad be our gunner?" she said, shooting the electric-type a scathing glare of her own. The two didn't exactly have a glowing history. "I mean, why isn't Siria with us? I'd prefer her company instead of jackass' here."

The jeep jerked as Shadrach temporarily lost his composure. Din looked downward, having already heard the information from the survivors of the ambush. No one said anything, allowing the dull roar of moving machinery to fill the atmosphere.

The silence was then pierced by soft sobbing. Sirius curled up in his seat, putting his claws to his face as he wept gently.

Levina narrowed her eyes at this; judging from the others' reactions, the reason was more than evident, but she had to hear it to believe it. The Ampharos leaned forward in her seat. "Shadrach, did she..."

He nodded glumly.

"I..." She was absolutely floored. The Latias was one of the best at close-quarters combat. How could she get left behind?

"Ambush!" Sirius choked, as if understanding her implicit question. "We got caught in crossfire, and Siria was helping a casualty up, and then the pilot said something about not taking any more fire, and then- then-"

"Sirius."

"And then we took off!"

"Sirius."

"And I couldn't do an Arceus-damn thing about it!"

"Sirius."

"Hell, she's probably dead by-"

"SIRIUS!"

"WHAT?" he roared in response, glaring at the Ampharos. "Do you want to add a snarky-ass comment or something? 'Cause you can go right ahead! I don't give a fuck! Nothing matters anymore!" His voice subsided to a mumble as he looked away and hung his head in shame.

"I'm the worst brother she could get. I couldn't even save her when I could've."

Levina, stunned with the normally easy-going Latios' outburst, for once had no preprogrammed counter. "Sirius..."

"Get it out," he spat. "I know you want to insult or yell at me or something, so just do it now so I don't have to hear it the second before I get killed."

"I wasn't going to do that!" she defended, blood rushing to her face in anger.

"Isn't that what you do all of the other times? Just run over whoever's grieving and make their life a living hell?"

She didn't know whether to be angry or disappointed at his accusation. All she knew was that the chances that he was right were high. "It's just..." The Ampharos gritted her teeth, knowing exactly how uncharacteristic the words she were going to say were. "I'm sorry."

"Say what?" said the Jolteon above. "Levina's actually sorry for something?" He then shouted as the Ampharos stomped on his foot. "Fucking shit..."

"But Sirius," she said as if nothing had occurred. "Siria could still be alive. She's resourceful; there's no way she couldn't get out of the mess."

"That's what you said at first, and look what happened."

"I- wait..." What the Latios implied came fast on the heels of her confusion.

"I don't want to kill my sister!" he cried, putting his face in his claws. "I don't want to see her that way! I don't..." He began to sob again.

"But-"

"They'll do to her what they did to Charlie! They'll make her a beast and we'll have to find a way to kill her!"

She shifted in her seat to get a better look at him. "They're not going to do that. She'd never let them do it in the first place."

"You say that, but how do you know it's true?" Seizing upon the Ampharos' silence, Sirius sobbed, "See? You don't. She isn't just dead. She's worse than dead. She's gone, and it's all my fault."

"She's not dead," Levina pressed.

He didn't appear to hear her. "It's my fault, and I'm paying in spades. I had the chance, but I didn't take it. I could have saved her, but I couldn't! I'm useless!"

Levina had heard enough. He wasn't listening to words, so there was only one option left.

"Sirius. Look at me."

The Latios hardly moved.

"Sirius."

He seemed to recline back in his seat, if only to sigh in exasperation.

Enough is enough. She leaned forward and clapped her hands on the dragon's face, forcing him to turn towards her. "Si- ri- us. Look at me."

He didn't just look at her; he widened his eyes at the sudden contact, absolutely dumbfounded that Levina possessed the ability to touch him for any longer than it took to hit him.

"Listen. It's not your fault. It's a thing that you couldn't have prevented, yeah, but there's still hope, a chance to get it all back. You can't sit around all day and mope about her. She's probably still alive - which is more than what could be said for my loss," she admitted, looking downwards for a moment. Levina returned to staring at the Latios not a second later.

"Yeah, you probably think I'm a callous bitch for saying all of this, being all insensitive and stuff, and you know, you're probably right. I know it hurts you on a level I couldn't possibly understand (and believe me, I'm hurting too), since you've been connected with her since birth, but we're not even a half-hour away from a major battle, one where you probably intend to save your sister. Would I be right about that?"

He nodded once in confirmation.

"Right. We - yes, we, don't give that look; I'm coming even if I have to handcuff myself to you - are going on a mission that probably requires us to bash in the heads of lots of 'mon, and you're going to do nothing but sob? You're going to get yourself killed out there if that's all your going to do! Your mind can't be on both action and worrying; it's one or the other!"

She huffed and focused her gaze on the dragon's scarlet eyes. "Where's the Sirius I used to know? The one who always cracked jokes? The one who never complained about being my punching bag? The one who couldn't say two words about a girl before going into some perverted nosedive? The one who would do whatever it took to get his sister back? Where is he, Latios? Where is the Sirius that I want to see? The Sirius that Siria wants to see?"

The mention of the Latias' name drew an audible gasp from him. "That's right. What is Siria going to think when she sees you like this?" Levina didn't have too much of an idea of how his sister would actually react, but it was more than evident that the Latios before her did.

"She'd... she'd kill me. That's what she'd do."

"Do you feel like dying tonight?"

For the first time that night, Sirius felt the faint vestiges of a smirk rise to his lips. "No. No, I don't, actually."

"So I don't have to handcuff myself to you?"

"No."

A still silence filled the interior of the jeep as the others either didn't wish to be killed (Shadrach and Din) or simply weren't paying attention (Jackson). Finally, Sirius spoke again.

"Well, err... you're a bit close for comfort, aren't you?"

Levina felt the warmth of his breath wash over her face before she fully realized what he meant. In all of that time she talked to him, she had leaned forward until her face was hardly inches from his!

She stammered as she released him and put as much distance between her and the Latios as she could. "I- well-"

Sirius' low snickering attracted the Ampharos' glare. "Well, I'm sor-ry for helping you!" She hmphed and crossed her arms, imagining a slight warmness rising to her cheeks. "It's not as if I deal with 'mon crying and sniveling every single day, not to mention-"

"And I'm thankful," the Latios said, bringing her bluster to a complete halt. "Just like old times, huh? Like all the way back at the old base..."

"W-what?" She looked back at him before turning away. She wasn't just imagining the heat; she was more than certain that a full-on blush raged on her features, and the last thing she needed was for Sirius, of all 'mon, to get some kicks out of it.

And possibly something else, the sarcastic part of her snarked before she summarily strangled it.

Not content with backing down, she continued, "You think you can just cut me off-"

"Yes." Sirius smiled as she spluttered again. "We're not here to argue, are we? We're here to kick some ass."

"R-right." Seeing him beginning to turn towards her, Levina occupied herself with staring at a star in the pitch-black sky.

---

Siria gaped unashamedly at the Garchomp-sized hole in the wall where both Nuwai and Aiden disappeared. As she tried to crane her head to see into it, she saw a faded, golden yellow light spill outwards onto the rubble. The sunlight of a late afternoon?

Her heart sunk at the sight. Perhaps the Typhlosion was right. Perhaps he had actually killed those she had loved the most; perhaps he had drugged them into such a deep stupor...

The Latias immediately cast her doubts aside as she saw a lamp fly out of the hole and shatter beside her. Or perhaps I'm being too pessimistic, she thought as a few shards of glass drew blood from her face. Siria couldn't help but grin as she heard shouts and roars coming from the next room, absolutely amused at the twisted state of affairs they had gotten into. The situation itself seemed to defy reality.

"Go to hell!" a most unfeminine voice roared. Siria had to think for a second before realizing that it was Nuwai's. "I'll rip your guts out for what you did for Talal!"

"Now, now, let's be reasonable here," a more plaintive Aiden pleaded. Well, seemed to plead before he emerged from the dust cloud. She could see a great, mad grin plastered on his face.

A blue body gave pursuit so fast that Siria couldn't see anything more than a blur. The Typhlosion jumped nimbly out of the way hardly seconds before Nuwai slashed the wall behind him, raking a deep score in the stone.

"I was only trying to do what was best, Nuwai. Didn't you want to see Talal alive again?" He breathed a powerful stream of flame, dodging once more as Nuwai stubbornly charged through the Flamethrower.

She roared and whipped her head at the Typhlosion beside her. "Alive? Alive? You call what you did to that Skarmory ALIVE?"

"Why, yes," he said, disappearing in a blur only to reappear in the Garchomp's face. He thrust his arm forward with an icy sphere in hand.

Nuwai ate the Hidden Power attack, exchanging her pain for a chance to rent Aiden at the jugular. As he leaned back, he blinked slightly as a razor-sharp claw grazed his neck.

"Hahaha..." The Typhlosion wiped his neck with a paw, ignoring the fact that a vicious dragon was honing in on him. He sidestepped the Garchomp's Outrage attack and watched as she ripped the door of the room to shreds. Murmurs of shock from the next room accompanied the the sound of several moving chairs.

"Do you feel it, Nuwai? The rage that flows throughout you? The rage that consumes you?" He caught one of her arms as she moved to slash at his stomach, leveraging her weight so that he could aim a powerful kick at her stomach. "I haven't had a battle this good in years! You only get good battles like this when you royally piss someone off! Now bring it!"

"... bring it?" she asked in a low tone. She then raised her head rapidly, evoking a nasty crunching sound as it collided with the Typhlosion's jaw. As Aiden temporarily recoiled, she jumped backwards, glowing a light blue.

"I'll bring it." She then lunged forward in a brutal Outrage attack, leaving embers trailing in her wake. Her fins shone white temporarily as they cut across the shackles restraining both Siria and Jul. They grunted as they fell to the ground.

Aiden tried to halt the Garchomp's rampage with a Protect at first. However, even the shield that had withstood the hellfire of an orbital weapon buckled and collapsed under the furious dragon's rage. As he turned to dodge her, her claws caught his lab coat, completely tearing it off his body.

As Nuwai flew above him, he charged a Hidden Power Ice and shot it at her face. The angry dragon went tumbling, hitting the ground hard and rolling straight through another wall. This time, no light spilled out of the crevice. As Siria slowly collected herself, she felt a cool breeze flow past her face. Looking up, she saw neither sun nor blue sky, but instead the friendly twinkling of stars against a dark backdrop.

Determination and energy renewed, she got up slowly, making sure not to do anything that would bring rather ignominious downfall. It would be humiliating to not have defeated her greatest nemesis because of something as minor as a stretched muscle.

As Nuwai continued to rampage and war against the Typhlosion, she crept over to Jul. "We have to catch him off guard so Nuwai gets a clean shot," she said to him, having already discarded the tape from her muzzle. He nodded in agreement, and grimaced as Aiden dealt a Flamethrower directly to the Garchomp's back.

Aiden chuckled as he dodged another frenzied slash. "Keep that up, and soon you won't have enough HP to keep on fighting. Your attack's already halved! Just give up before I actually do something."

She flailed at the fire-type, who quickly dodged and returned several Hidden Powers to her backside. The agony of frostbite tearing at her burns was incredible, and actually caused the Garchomp to halt in her rampage for an instant to rear back in pain.

"She's lost it. Everything that Sirius taught her has gone out the window..." Jul sighed. "Outrage is confusing her, so she can't think straight at all."

"We need to get her back, but how?" Siria stared at the fight, seeing the Typhlosion knee her straight in the face. Her blood boiled at his treatment of Nuwai, but she knew better than to needlessly charge into the fight in her debilitated state. "I lost my psychic abilities, and Talal is..." A single tear formed at the corner of her eye as the moments replayed before her.

Jul sat and observed her attack patterns. As Siria said, she seemed to rush heedlessly, trying to go for whatever opportunities she could. He shook his head at this; there was no pattern, no discernible logic to plan around!

In his anger, he kicked one of the myriad stones scattered about the ground, watching it bounce into one of the rooms Nuwai was kind enough to unveil. He tried to look inside, but only managed to sneak a glimpse before a blue beam threatened to spear through his head. He glanced back to see the Garchomp begin to shoot off streams of Dragonbreath, each one capable of dealing a searing third-degree burn.

"Siria," he said hurriedly to the Latias next to him. "Our stuff's in the next room."

She frowned.

"The box that Sirius gave her," Jul said to her implicit questioning. "If it has Persim Berries then we can snap her out of confusion."

The dragon blinked. "Right, but how do we get her to eat one? She's not exactly relaxed."

He thought for a moment before giving the best answer he could think of "If my pistol's in there, then we can distract them. Yeah, I know it isn't exactly the best plan, but what alternative do we have? Unless you can think of a way to kill him and get her sane at the same time."

The Leafeon saw her shake her head once and bite her lip. "Good luck."

"Luck," Jul heard his voice echo. "Haven't I had enough of that."

He laid himself flat on the ground and cautiously edged forward, keeping his eyes trained on the Garchomp as he did so. The grass-type winced every single time she and Aiden exchanged blows, but encouraged himself to keep going forward for her sake.

Now near the giant hole that marked the entrance, he slowly got up and stepped over the foot-high remnant of the wall. He froze and looked straight up as his foot cracked a shard of glass, but the sound attracted none of the attention he anticipated. Relieved at this, Jul turned towards the table before him.

Their gear laid in a heap the middle of the table, surrounded by half-filled mugs of tea and bread. Undeterred, he gingerly began to paw through the pile in hopes of recovering the berry case.

Jul paused slightly as he picked up Talal's worn map case, humored at how outdated it seemed compared to the other electronics on the table. The 'mon's pretty old, isn't he...?

The Leafeon caught himself. Was. Talal was old, not is. Embittered by the realization, he set the antique aside and started searching for Nuwai's pack.

He recognized his pistol and strap, quickly reacquainting it with his leg. As Jul buckled it on, the walls shook slightly. An intense heat flowed in, reminding him that he was on a schedule.

He placed Siria's gear on one of the chairs, surprised at its sheer weight. His musings on how much material she brought into the field then ground to a halt as he saw Nuwai's khaki pack, recognizing the tiny Garchomp figure strapped on one of the zippers. He forced a sick grin at it, shaking his head as he took hold of it and opened the bag.

Jul began to rifle through the items: a worn journal, a pair of standard-issue NVGs, a small perfectly hewn stone cube...

At last he found the box. He worked the steel latch and opened it, finding the usual assortment of berries the late Sirius had packed into the wooden compartments. He grabbed two pawfuls of the colorful pink berries and escaped from the room.

"Siria, here," he said quietly, shoving some of the Persim Berries into her hand.

Jul looked quizzically at her as she popped one into her mouth. "Headache," she said Mareepishly.

"Get this!" a voice rang out. Jul nearly went blind as a brilliant white light filled the room. Aiden sent an immense pillar of flame blazing before Nuwai, sending her hurtling back into the wall besides Siria. He was frankly surprised that she survived; he had seen him incinerate an unwitting lab technician with Blast Burn the last time he was in captivity.

"Now, dammit!" Siria shouted at him, casting the approaching Typhlosion only a passing glance before shoving a berry down Nuwai's mouth. Jul quickly took his pistol from its holster and began to fire at the fire-type. He didn't expect the rounds to actually kill him, but hopefully they would divert him long enough for Siria to get the Garchomp moving again.

Aiden sighed and Protected, watching the energy of the bullets create ripples on the surface of the shield. "Jul, why are you shooting at me?" the Typhlosion asked. He wore the tatters of a t-shirt, for both his lab coat and windbreaker had been mercilessly torn to shreds by Nuwai's attacks.

"Because you deserve to be sent to hell."

"Is that so?" The fire-type squatted down before Jul as the Leafeon tossed the pistol away and brandished his sharp tail. "Why do I deserve to be sent to hell? Why not you, especially after all of the 'mon you killed in past years?"

"You know damn well why I did what I did."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "Oh, please. Your little raiding party wrecked multimillion dollar equipment and murdered some very accomplished technicians at least three times in recent memory. All I ever did was kill 'mon who deserve to be killed."

Jul slashed at his neck with a Leaf Blade, but the Typhlosion merely pulled back and blew flame on him. As the Leafeon scrambled to extinguish the fire on his tail, Aiden stood up and kicked him in the stomach.

"You pathetic piece of trash." He pulled out his own pistol, training the laser dot on Jul's chest. "I can't believe this is what I fathered. A miserable pile of crap that can't even take a single fire attack. Really, now. Maybe you weren't the best candidate for the Shadow prototype after all." Aiden flipped the safety.

"Get away from him," Jul heard someone growl. Nuwai staggered up and bared an incredible display of teeth at him. "Get away, or I will tear you in two."

He looked impressed. "You really got up after a Blast Burn? Interesting. Oh, but it looks like you cheated." He gave Siria a derisive look.

"But you know what? I don't really care. All three of you can challenge me at once, and I'll beat you all. Why? Because I know I'm better than you."

He smirked at the three. "Let's go."

The Latias' mouth charged with water as she returned a scathing glare. "Let's."

Aiden let hellfire flow forth as Siria unleashed a Surf attack. The elements collided in the middle of the room, releasing billows of thick steam. Nuwai surged through the cloud with a Dragon Rush, barely deflected by a hastily erected Protect. Aiden neglected his backside in the defense, and Jul slashed at him with a Leaf Blade, drawing a stream of blood. Roaring, the Typhlosion punched the ground, letting jets of flame erupt upwards from the tiles. Siria dodged a column of fire, letting another Surf attack rip at the center of attention. As water met fire once more, Nuwai took an alternative route, moving in to nail him with a Dragon Claw. Aiden stepped back and amplified the fire on his back, scorching an attacking Jul while parrying against the Garchomp.

"Is this all you got?" C'mon!" He leaped forward to attack Siria, who was in the middle of preparing another Surf. His paw glowed a malign black as he swiped at the Latias' face, drawing blood and a grunt from her. Face stinging from the super-effective attack, Siria sent a Thunderbolt coursing from her claws into the tan body before her. Aiden froze at the feeling of thousands of volts frying his nerves before being kicked in the chest by the Latias before him. He stumbled backwards, regaining his composure just in time for Nuwai to catch him in the face with an Iron Tail. Temporarily blinded by the force of the attack, he charge Hidden Powers in both hands and threw them in the general direction of the Garchomp, laughing madly through the blood streaming down his face as he heard a roar of pain.

His levity was cut short when Jul struck with an Aerial Ace. The grass-type didn't miss a beat, perfectly accurate attack laying a wound on the Typhlosion's chest. He nimbly jumped away as a angry spurt of Flamethrower issued forth from the fire-type, only to be doused with Siria's Surf again. The Latias then shot a Dragon Pulse at Aiden, shouting in triumph as the beam made contact with his shoulder and incinerated a chunk of it. As he reared in pain, Nuwai, previously loitering near the ceiling of the room, jolted forth and laid an devastating Earthquake before him, causing the ground beneath all of them to tremor. The Typhlosion, having been at the epicenter of the attack, could not take any more of the onslaught, and tumbled backwards onto the ground.

Nuwai swooped down before him, folding her fins in as she glared at the fire-type writhing on the ground. "You will pay for what you did to Talal," she said menacingly, exhaling short bursts of blue vapor.

"Will I?" the Typhlosion asked in a jovial voice. He shot a Hidden Power at the Garchomp, stunning her long enough so he could stand on his own legs again.

"I'm not going to pay. You're going to pay. You're going to pay for what you did to me. It doesn't look like it, but," he said as he gestured at the wounds marring his body, "It hurts. It hurts like hell, you see. And now, I'm going to get serious."

He staggered backwards, retreating back to the hole that let moonlight filter in. He folded his arms and stared crazily at the three 'mon as he began to glow softly. "AhahahAHAHAHAHA! You haven't seen my true self, have you? No, you haven't! No one has! And now, you're going to see it right before you die! The form that HE himself bestowed upon-"

His rant was cut short when a brilliant green laser suddenly descended from the heavens, turning the very ground he stood on into a massive shower of sparks and fire. Siria could hear the dull beats of a helicopter far above, mentally cheering on whoever manned the powerful minigun above. Every fifth round is a tracer, the analytical part of her chimed.

Well, if the stream of bullets consistently ran green, the gun must be spitting out a hell of a lot of bullets.

Her joy quickly turned into fear as the rounds began to target their location, ripping straight through a wall in their pursuit.

"Siria, what the hell?" Jul shouted as he rolled to the left. "Why are they shooting at us?"

Grimacing, she moved ahead of the stream and charged an Energy Ball in her hands. "Green flare!" she said as she shot the attack up into the air. It exploded into a small, emerald fireball, telling whatever crew there was in the gunship that there were friendly personnel down below.

As soon as the bullets stopped raining down, she looked at the area that they were once fighting in. There were no more walls and certainly no more structure. Nuwai and Jul too looked around themselves, searching for something else: a Typhlosion.

"Where is he?" Nuwai growled, golden eyes gleaming with anger. "Where?"

Siria stared at the crater where the fire-type once stood. There was no way he could have survived the attack, none at all. "I think he's dead."

"Dead? He's dead?" the Garchomp said, outraged. "But I wanted to... kill... him..." She faltered as she realized the ruthlessness of what she was about to say. Aiden certainly deserved death for what he had done to countless individuals, but it didn't make her feel any better to stoop down to his level.

"Shouldn't we be more concerned about getting out right now?" Jul said, shoving another magazine into his pistol. He looked upwards as the loud drone of helicopters began to fill the sky.

"No." Nuwai scanned the floor, looking for a body. She saw it in the corner, somehow still intact despite all of the fighting they had done. She walked to it and sat down beside it. As she bowed her head, she said, "I'm not leaving. Not without Talal." Her voice nearly cracked at the last two words, causing Siria and Jul to exchange glances.

"But Nuwai, carrying him out will only make us unable to fight back," Jul said. He wanted to preserve the body as well, but not to the point of self-destruction. When she failed to move, he continued, "Troops will be coming. They'll want to know what happened here."

"I don't care."

Jul was about to reply again when Siria put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll defend this position," she said simply. "To me, it looks like the Army's attacking tonight."

"But-"

"We can hold for about an hour or so while they make their way through. And besides," she said, casting a wary glance at the Garchomp, "Are you really going to try arguing with a powerful dragon who's bent on killing anything that threatens Talal's body?"

He frowned. "Well, if you put it that way..."

"It's decided, then. We'll hold the position. Now, you said that our supplies were in the other room. How much of it do you think still exists after the helicopter strike?"

---

Sirius flanked to the left of a tank, dearly hoping that no Tamsus insurgent would come and activate the reactive armor that plated the steel behemoth's sides. The last thing he needed to be was plastered all over a city wall while trying to get to Siria.

Shadrach and the others took similar avenues down the dusty, pockmarked street, their jeep having been destroyed hardly minutes upon entry into the city. The enemy was a well-entrenched one, and had gotten the jump on them after Jackson neutralized three previous threats. The technologically superior Halcyian Defense apparently had much difficulty in penetrating against the covertly placed antitank and sniper units spread throughout the buildings.

"AT!"

A contrail trailed behind the rocket that thankfully only glanced on the tank's sloped armor and flew off to Arceus knew where. Sirius took the attack as a hint to get out of the tank's perimeter before he got blown to bits.

As he tried to get ahead of the armor, his vision blurred slightly as the tank boomed and lodged a shell into the side of a house where the gunner had just been. The roar of the walls caving in under the sabot round's incredible force sounded tiny compared to the thunder of several attack helicopters hovering overhead. Reinforced with specially designed armor against elemental attacks, they gave little attention to the Thunderbolts and Flamethrowers rising up from the ground below, instead deciding to punish those responsible for the attacks.

Sirius kept his head down low and focused on the Umbreon before him, knowing better than to loiter and casually watch war happen. "Shadrach, sitrep," he said, eyes darting to see if anything targeted them.

"Ahhh, nothing but general info right now. We're supposed to support this mech platoon. Other SF detachments are- tango! On the roof!" Sirius looked up at his ten o'clock, where a Buizel who had tried to take a shot reeled backwards from the force of a bullet in his chest.

The five of them quickly joined the bustle of the other 'mon as they collectively surged forth, clearing and securing a pathway for the APCs and armored vehicles to move in safely.

"Gunner at the window!" a thin, nasally voice shouted. A wall of bullets assailed the hole and knocked the rocket-wielding insurgent down. In his death throes, the 'mon pulled the trigger on the RPG and sent it flying down at an awkward angle. The rocket screamed down and exploded on the pavement, showering the unfortunate Raichu standing there with shrapnel before blowing her back into a wall.

Attention immediately attracted by her cry, Sirius ran across the road and crouched down to her with medic bag in hand. As he began to look the Raichu over, he heard Shadrach dimly yell, "Goddammit, Sirius, move it! Move it!"

The Latios turned away, instead trying to see where the soldier was wounded. It looked like the shrapnel caught her side pretty badly...

"Sn... sni..." she breathed, staring at the building where the gunner had once been.

Sirius shushed her, but she wouldn't listen. "Snip..."

"What?" he first asked, perplexed by the monosyllabic phrase. Then what she implied quickly dawned upon him. "Oh fu-"

CRACK.

The Latios tumbled backwards as something powerful struck his helmet. Vision having turned black, he could only hear the faint yells of, "Counterfire, counterfire!" and the din of automatic rifles discharging through the high-pitched whine of tinnitus in his ears. As he laid on the ground waiting for his senses to recover, something grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket and pulled him out of the street.

"What part of 'sniper' don't you get?" Levina said angrily, nodding towards a concerned-looking Shadrach.

"Perhaps the 'per' part," he said with a lopsided grin.

She only rolled her eyes as she dragged him up to his feet, and was surprised when the Latios tackled her down into a passageway between a pair of storefronts.

"What the hell, Sirius! Why-"

"What part of 'mortar' don't you get?" he yelled over the roar of quickly fading machine gun fire. Soldiers began to vacate the street as telltale whines began to fill the air. One of the wiser tank drivers closed the cupola hatch on the tank as it continued to advance, albeit much more slowly.

Levina tried to shove the dragon off of her back. "Well, let me get up at leas-"

BOOM.

A shell exploded right where the Ampharos had previously been standing, creating a smoky crater and decimating any chance of getting Sirius to relent. She remained prone, not willing to waste any more of her energy fighting the protective dragon.

The lethal downpour began, with some rounds glancing the surface of the streets and others driving straight into the roofs of houses. "Levina, how many 'mon live here?" the Latios asked nervously.

"I don't know, but I hope they evacuated in time. I hope..." She watched as one shell tore into a two-story building. It blew out the windows, sending shards of glass flying downwards into the rubble of the street.

The two of them remained in silence as the mortar rounds continued to fall, bringing all fighting in their area to a screeching halt. Sirius formed a Protect shield around the two of them, wondering if it could resist the several pounds of explosive a shell usually brought down.

"Looks like the shelling's winding down," Levina said. The whistling faded away as the last mortar shook the ground with a decent explosion.

"Yeah." Sirius watched as a couple curious soldiers crept out into the crater-ridden street, only to quickly retreat when another shell exploded before them.

"Incoming!" a voice among the hiding Halycian troops shouted. The familiar whistling of the mortars quickly followed, showering them with explosions once more.

Sirius grunted as he flattened himself against the wall. "Arceus-dammit..." he said as he peered out into the dimly lit street. The tank seemed to be smoking, and whined when the gunner unsuccessfully tried to turn the turret.

"Hey!" Shadrach stood at the other end of the alleyway, beckoning them to come forth. As they came forward, he launched into an explanation. "We're pinned down by a mortar team somewhere down there. Arty can't get a lock on them, so we have to neutralize them by ourselves so the platoon can get moving again. We're taking this route." He held out what Sirius recognized to be a PokeNav, and projected an rough map of the city out into the air. A yellow line zigzagged through several avenues, leading to a point some distance away from their location. "Is that clear?"

Sirius' voice got drowned in the several yessir's of the squad as they began to follow the Umbreon's lead. He took the time between shuffling down this road or narrowly avoiding that mortar shell to reflect on what had happened hours prior. He knew it wasn't the best form to be so preoccupied with his concerns, especially in the covert action that they were about to take, but the thought of Siria failed to leave his mind.

Nor did he try to shoo it away. If anything, he clung onto the image of her sister with a fierce grip. He had been depressed and moody before, but now he felt for once in what seemed to be forever a sincere trust in Levina's words.

Ah, that incredibly rude, stupid, insulting Ampharos. He smirked slightly as he rounded a corner, wondering just how exactly his initial joking, unabashed advances turned into a grudging respect for her. He unconsciously sniffed at his arm (he swore he could still smell a lingering stench), quite aware of what atrocities she had wreaked upon him months before. She had been a real bitch then, always snarking about this or jabbing at that, always finding a chink in his armor to exploit.

That all changed the night he tried to get Siria to talk. He understood that he was way in the wrong when the Latias hit him and took off. Sirius didn't resent Levina hitting him in the chest at all; he fullheartedly deserved it. The conversation afterward had been normal, too, at least on her terms; the Latios found it to be incredibly acerbic, but what else was new? It was just what she said after she thought he had fallen asleep that unnerved him. He racked his memory for the exact words, something along the lines of-

"Shhh." Sirius' thoughts quickly dispersed as Shadrach crouched down, holding his paw back in a gesture to stop. The Umbreon gripped his rifle tightly, pointing at a three 'mon crew in a courtyard hardly ten feet from where the Special Forces 'mon hid. One of them was sighting a mortar while two others opened a wooden crate with a crowbar, tossing the Lugia-emblazoned lid to rest with the dozen or so other boxes behind them.

"Arceus, is that..." Levina said, seeing the infamous crested head as the 'mon stepped back from the mortar and put his paws to his ears.

"Mirunas' emblem? Afraid so," Shadrach said in a low voice. He slid his rifle's charging handle back slightly as the faint boom of the mortar firing reached them. "But we can deal with the diplomatic implications later. These 'mon need to die. Sirius, get my right. Din, besides him. Jackson and Levina, stay back and prepare to reinforce."

The Latios adjusted his position, creeping quietly to the other side of the alleyway as he charged a Shadow Ball in his hand. He would have preferred to use Dragon Pulse or another more powerful special attack, but Shadow Ball was the only one that wouldn't give off a radiant light signature. As he watched Din power up an Ice Beam in his maw, the dragon then realized why Shadrach had picked them two instead of the electric-types behind them: their attacks were less flashy and thus less noticeable to the enemy.

Shadrach cricked his neck and looked down his sights. "I got the one on the left. Din, middle. Sirius, right. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Alright now. Three, two, one, go."

The muffled pop of a silenced rifle, the frosty hiss of a beam of ice, and the faint hum of dark energy all sounded as the attacks struck the Tamsus 'mon dead before they knew what hit them.

"Good." Sirius saw the Umbreon lower his rifle and look around. "They might still have security, but I want to check out those boxes. If that's really Mirunas contraband, then we have a serious problem."

Sirius took the rifle from Shadrach as the dark-type slowly stepped out into the courtyard. His shadow played on the brick walls as the small fire the Tamsus 'mon made flickered. The vat of soup boiled slightly, beckoning the cook who had prepared the meal to come and take a look.

Of course, that 'mon would never come. He laid dead, head gushing a bit of blood as Shadrach crept right next to it.

The Latios continued to scan the area, concerning himself with the rooftops in particulars. As the dark-type began to take pictures of the ammunition boxes, the dragon could see a shadow flit on one of them. The muzzle of a rifle gleamed slightly before disappearing.

"Shadrach," Sirius said hurriedly, "Tango on the roof. Get out of there."

"Wha-" The Umbreon yelled as a bullet pierced his lower leg, causing him to buckle over in pain.

Sirius started to let rounds loose at the target up above, but couldn't see much more. "Gonna light," he grunted, tossing the rifle down and charging a Hidden Power Fire in his claws. He thrust the fireball upwards, causing the entire courtyard to be illuminated with a warm, yellow glow.

"There he is!" Jackson said, directing a Thunder Wave at the movements of a Ninetales above. The 'mon flitted into disappearance, flashing them the telltale silvery tails as the fire-type made an exit.

Sirius rushed over to Shadrach, once again prepared with his kit. The dark-type waved a hand at him and turned his leg away. "It's a minor wound. I can attend to it later."

"But-"

"If we stop to treat it now, then we delay in rescuing Siria," he growled, wrapping a makeshift tourniquet around the wound. "I don't want that. It's precious time. Otherwise, we might not be able to get there before-"

He stopped mid-sentence as his headset crackled."Echo One, come in, over."

Shadrach recognized the voice of the Porygon-Z. "I read you, Kilo Two, over."

"Right. A few minutes ago, we got a report from one of our helos that a green flare went up in the eastern district. We think it's Siria."

The Umbreon's heart jumped slightly at the great possibility that she was still alive. "Can you upload a map?" he asked, looking around as his squad surveyed the yard.

"Hold up. You should be receiving it any moment now..."

Shadrach's PokeNav beeped twice. He snatched it from his belt and held it palm-up, projecting a new map into the air. A thin green line snaked between houses and across the city to... a point superimposed on a house?

"That's the helo's location at the time of the sighting. Measure out a few hundred feet or so to the east. Sorry we can't provide more accurate readings. You're on your own from here, over."

He frowned at the path they had to take. It would undoubtedly put them through several unfriendly contacts, but...

"Alright. Thank you for the information. Echo One, out." The Umbreon staggered up with some difficulty, the pain from the bullet wound shooting up his thigh. He ignored his body, though, convinced that his comfort would come only after Siria was secured. Patching it up now would only make him feel less at ease.

"Levina," he called. As the Ampharos looked at the PokeNav's projection, he said, "We've got a confirmation on Siria's position. This is what we're going to do..."

---

"They come." Jul breathed shallowly after draining the last of the water in his canteen, tossing the empty container at the sound of approaching voices. It had been a miracle that no one had come by to investigate for the twenty minutes they had remained in their location.

He languidly picked his rifle up, shoving the stock into his shoulder with one paw. His other thumbed one of the few fragmentation grenades they managed to salvage from the wreck the helicopter had left behind.

Siria sat besides him, both of the soldiers leaning back against a stump of a wall. "Yes, they do," she said as she munched quietly on the last berries in the wooden box. Her psychic abilities were slowly returning to her, but hardly matched what she was normally capable of. She still didn't know what the drug did to her, either, so she wasn't eager to figure out the side effects in the middle of combat.

A sigh came from the Garchomp in the corner. For all of their time in the ruins, the dragon had been in deep contemplation about what had just happened. Or perhaps tiredness; Siria didn't quite know, and didn't exactly have the desire to find out.

What struck the Latias as odd was that nobody gave half a damn about the situation they were in. After fighting that ferocious Typhlosion, neither of them had the will to get up and fight off another wave of enemies. It seemed more like a chore than a necessity; a simple problem to be solved rather than a pressing issue.

"Well," the Leafeon said, pulling himself up. "How will we adjust ourselves?"

"Use the terrain to ambush and get the advantage. Here, have a Salac." She pressed one of the spiky berries into his paw, earning herself a rather strange look.

"These are rare."

She laughed as she popped another one in her mouth. "These circumstances don't strike you as rare? Enjoy the effects while they last, because Arceus won't be giving us any speed boosts. Nuwai, you take one too," she said, stretching her hand out to her. "My brother can kill me later about distributing his hard-earned food."

The solemn dragon took one and quietly chewed on it. The sweetness of the juice under the tough skin evoked no reaction out of her; rather, she felt what had hounded for the past day: exhaustion. She stood up, baring her teeth and talons.

"Nuwai, stay here and minimize your profile. Jul and I will hide wherever we can." She laid flat against a defaced column and shimmered into invisibility. Her grayish fatigues matched the rough patterns of the stone, so there were no concerns there. The Leafeon simply found half a wall to hide behind as he attached his bayonet to his rifle, the first time Siria had witnessed a soldier actually use the lower barrel attachment.

Well, she had a bunch of first's this very night, so why should this surprise her?

"Watch out," an insurgent cautioned. "They still might be here." Their footsteps were deafening compared to the silence of the three hiding Special Forces 'mon. Jul heard something right around the corner, and positioned himself to get a clear shot at whatever was about to appear.

He nearly pulled the trigger as the body appeared before him. The only thing that prevented him from actually going shooting was the individual's expression. The Bayleef's face was matted with tears. The small body in her arms took short, ragged breaths.

"I... I didn't mean to..." she whispered as a sob arose from her chest.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Hurry up and run south."

She stared at him blankly.

"Run before they get here. We're on your side," Jul assured.

The grass-type bowed thankfully before scampering away to a position that was most definitely not south. The Leafeon wanted to call her back to tell her where exactly to go, but he didn't want to risk blowing his cover. He tried to banish from his mind the most likely grisly conclusion of what would happen to the Bayleef and her child.

Siria peered at him from behind a wall. "Innocent," he said. She nodded and pulled her head back.

He jumped at the report of several rifles before remembering that there was an entirely different war raging in the other side of the city. He then settled back down again and perked his ears, straining to hear anything that could inform them of enemy positions. Nothing but the continuous distant explosions and the patter of the insurgents' feet filled the air.

They went from building to building to search for any Halcyian members that might have been smart enough to have taken refuge inside one of them. Ironically, they were overthinking their strategy; there would be no rear-guard ambushes occurring that night.

The Leafeon heard something brush behind him, and turned swiftly to engage the enemy behind him. However, only a leaf stirred on the dusty ground, making him ease up a little. He hadn't noticed that tiny red streak of paint on the wall before, though...

"Don't move," a voice suddenly said. A Kecleon materialized behind him and warily aimed a rifle at Jul's head. "We have you surrounded."

The grass-type nearly swerved to stick his bayonet in the 'mon's gut until he saw that both Siria and Nuwai were in similar positions. At least ten of them had somehow managed to infiltrate the area and catch them off guard. And all the while we'd been watching for troops that we could actually see...

As he sneaked a second glance at them, he saw that each one of them had a black t-shirt and dark pants on.

"So that's how you were able to get us," the Latias muttered. "You took advantage of our lowered senses."

"That's right," an unfamiliar voice claimed. A Kecleon dressed in not black, but instead glaring white clothing stepped before them. "I thought netting special operators was difficult. Apparently that isn't so."

Siria merely cursed as he began to talk over a radio. They've been had, and easily, too! Why hadn't anybody noticed? Why hadn't she noticed?

"Right. Yeah, ok, get a jeep over." The ill-dressed Kecleon closed communications on his radio. "Alright, you three, stand up with hands over your head. Don't try anything funny."

Siria and Jul exchanged glances. They then jumped slightly as one of their captors ejected a bullet into the ground.

"We ask nicely the first time. Please get up with your hands over your head." Other insurgents began to filter into the area, fanning out so that they could cover as much ground as possible.

The Latias sighed. In the end, all of their fighting, all of their struggles, and all of their travails resulted in this? She had lost a good operator and friend over the the infiltration, and it was all going to end with them being captured by Tamsus troops?

She got up slowly, being sure to watch for any hint of relaxation in the soldiers' ranks. She didn't find any.

Jul got up afterward and grunted as one of the Kecleon drove the muzzle of a rifle into his back. Siria was far more concerned about Nuwai, though.

"Lieutenant," one of the normal-types said, crouching down to her. "We got a hard one. C'mon, get up," he said to the Garchomp.

"No."

"Up."

She growled. "I will not get up."

The officer set his jaw firmly. "That leaves us no choice. Shoot her." The Kecleon behind her nodded and raised his rifle to her head.

"Nuwai," Siria pleaded, "Please."

"I've had it," she said. "I'm not budging."

"C'mon." The soldier kicked her in the gut for "encouragement." She grimaced, but gave no outward indication of her pain.

"Maurice, forget it." The lieutenant pulled out a steel-gray revolver from his holster. "It's going to be hell to take so many prisoners."

"But sir-"

"Step away." The Kecleon known as Maurice did so dutifully, allowing the Garchomp her breathing space back.

The lieutenant stepped forward slightly, giving both the Leafeon and Latias a glance. "If you can convince her, do it now. Otherwise..."

"You'll commit murder?" the Latias asked coldly.

"No, not murder. I can say that she attacked me. Easy, huh?"

Maurice could not help but to object. "Sir-"

"Enough! Now, Garchomp, are you getting up or not?" he demanded.

"... no." Nuwai had uncurled her arms from her sides, though.

"Well, then. There's my answer. You two. Don't watch if you don't want to, but don't interfere if you want to live."

"Nuwai, move!" Jul shouted as the Kecleon raised the revolver. "It's not worth it!"

The lieutenant narrowed his eye as he stared down at the dragon. "Good bye."

BANG.

The Kecleon looked away after he pulled the trigger. He casually commented, "There, a clean hi-"

He promptly got the wind knocked out of him by a trembling, enraged dragon. Nuwai tackled him at the gut and pinned him to a wall, one horn leaking a slight amount of blood from a graze. She roared as she held him at the neck and raised a talon to his jugular.

The other soldiers started, all raising their rifles simultaneously at the Garchomp.

"If they shoot," she hissed, "I'll cut your neck open."

The lieutenant, previously looking so proud, began to sweat violently under the pressure of the angry land shark. "D-d-d- don't kill me! Don't shoot!" he stammered, eyes rolling in their sockets. He convulsed on the spot, sliding downward from Nuwai's grip as he fell unconscious. Looking at the Kecleon-sized imprint on the stone wall for a moment, she bent down and picked up the cowardly officer by his shirt, still holding one of her claws against his neck for all of the insurgentsto see. Siria and Jul took advantage of the Kecleon's lack of action and quickly flanked Nuwai's sides.

"I guess that's it," Siria said simply. "Either you surrender, or we kill your lieutenant and the rest of you. Even if we die, I'm sure that Nuwai can kill everyone with a few Outrage attacks before she goes down." The dragon nodded fiercely at the statement. "Not to mention that it's not a bad thing to surrender. We actually feed prisoners of war, you know."

Both sides exchanged silence as they stared at each other. The Latias hoped that they wouldn't pick up their rifles and start shooting; she wasn't a hundred percent sure of what she just said, instead relying on the show of power that the Garchomp had just displayed to make her point.

"Holy shit," one of the normal types finally said, dropping his rifle with a clatter. Siria was certain that if he wore different colored pants, she could see the the wet patch emanating from his lower body. The rest of the insurgents quickly followed suit, most of them thrusting down their arms as if they were contaminated with the plague. Maurice set his down solemnly and smiled as he sat down before it.

As Siria and Jul began to secure and frisk the now-prisoners of war, Nuwai dropped the body and sat down hard, hardly feeling the sharp brush of rubble underneath her as her mind began to race again. She hadn't meant to leap up and attack that Kecleon. He had simply angered her with his disregard of life. She was more than irritated at the prospect; she was fully outraged, and snapped before she had a chance to think her plan through. What if the 'mon had better reaction times? Would she be there?

She shook her head in the night air. She could ask herself the same question about when she had resisted their attempts to get her on her feet. If she had obeyed, would she still be there?

No. They'd be on their way to another prison camp where she'd lose another one of her friends. Now that she had the proper time to reflect upon it, she figured quite proudly that what she had done had saved all of their lives, at least for the time being. Lashing out at that one lieutenant had spared them all from captivity.

To fight, a voice suddenly said in her head. She immediately recognized it, and her vision began to water.

To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence, the elderly voice said. Supreme excellence...

"Supreme excellence... consists of breaking the enemy's resistance... without fighting." She blinked at the adage. It had hardly been a few weeks since Talal said that to her, but she felt as if she had heard it years before. For the first time that night, she smiled as she finally figured out what the Tropius had meant. She had gone and done it. She had fulfilled one of Talal's greatest wishes: getting her to truly comprehend the phrase he swore his life upon.

Too bad he wasn't here to see it.

She turned around at the sound of shuffling feet, and crouched in anticipation for another round of fighting. However, she merely held her position as a pair of white, angular ears appeared over the wall she leaned on.

"Holy shit, it's a Garchomp," she heard someone say as the dragon quickly pulled his head back in. At least one 'mon would be surprised at her recent evolution. She merely turned around and watched as her two other partners finish rounding up the insurgents.

She turned around once again as heard something sneaking up behind her. As she saw the knife in the Latios' hand, her training kicked in. The Garchomp looked out of the corner of her eye and grabbed his wrist, turning it and driving the blade straight into the ground with newfound strength.

"Fuck!" the assailant spat. "Shadrach!"

"On it," the Umbreon said calmly, flanking her other side with a rifle in paw. He brought it up and fixed the sights on the dragon's head. "Don't move, Garchomp, lest I cut your life expectancy down several years."

However, Nuwai was too busy looking at the Latios she had arrested. She immediately let go of him, allowing him to get up and dust himself off. "Alright, now-"

His crimson eyes widened in surprise as he looked over the dragon's face. "Is that- what- no, it can't be..."

Nuwai bowed her head.

"Nuwai, is that you?" he asked, mouth agape. "Do you know where Siria is?"

She knew that she should have felt greatly insulted by the Latios' nearly casual lack of attention to her status, but she was too tired to care. "There," Nuwai said, pointing towards a red figure a few yards away.

Sirius looked at the Latias for about half a second before deciding that it was her. "Sis!" he yelled as he zoomed past the others.

"Wha-" The red dragon had hardly a moment to blink before she was tackled down to the ground in a hug. "What the- Sirius?" Her voice sounded hollow as he smashed her face into his chest.

"You're alive, dammit, you're alive! And you're not a Shadow 'mon, either! Are you?" He inspected her face more closely, but couldn't discern much through the tears that clouded his eyes.

"Well, I mean- Sirius, could you let me up at least?" she asked exasperatedly. The Latios relented, but only for a moment; as soon as she was on her two feet, he wrapped her in another hug.

"I thought you were dead," he said, letting the tears flow unashamedly. "And it would have all been my fault. All of it."

"No it wasn't," Siria said, instinctively wrapping her arms around her brother. "As the squad leader it was mine. It was my fault, not yours... and I paid for it." She choked slightly.

"But-"

"No but's, Sirius." Even in her drug-addled state, Siria could detect all of what her brother wanted to say and express. "You don't need to say anything more. I'm alive, aren't I?" And as he brought her closer to him, she couldn't help but cry a little too.

---

From afar, the prisoners watched them from behind an enlarged Protect barrier. "Hey," said one Kecleon, "If we get this rope off of us, I bet we could break out and kill them right now. What do you guys say?"

"Care to repeat that?" The normal-type turned his head slowly to see an Ampharos tower over him. Her eyes seemed to glint a faint red, which only made him all the more scared.

"I- I mean-"

The yellow figure hummed after getting a fuller view of his face. "Huh. Aren't you the one whose tongue I tied some time back?"

The astute observation brought forth a rather unpleasant memory he had previously attempted to suppress. The Kecleon gasped and jerked backwards, only to be caught when Levina grabbed at his shirt.

"Maybe I'll teach you how to shut up more often."

---

"Well," Sirius finally said with a husky voice. "You're alive."

"As if you hadn't said that at least twenty times." Siria struggled to get out of his minute-long embrace, forcing the Latios to let go. He sighed as he reluctantly did so.

Sirius then looked around for what had previously caught his interest. "Nuwai," he said, walking up to the Garchomp. He was impressed by the fact that she was hardly three inches shorter than him; the former Gabite had once been a head lower. "You evolved!"

"Yes, I did," she replied in a melancholy tone. "I evolved..."

The subdued voice was not lost on Sirius. "But how did you evolve... oh, no. Don't tell me that it was one of those extreme evolutions..."

The Garchomp left to go back into the former structure, and returned with Talal's charred corpse. Everybody bowed their heads at the former RM.

"I see," Sirius said, humbled.

Nuwai wept bitterly. "I wanted to evolve. I wanted to grow stronger, become stronger, so that I could make him proud. But not like this. No, not at all. I finally grew strong. I got powerful. But for what? He's dead, and there's nothing in the Arceus-damn world that can bring him back."

Din looked up at her, smirk all but completely erased from his features. "I... I don't know." He stared at the body. "Jul, what happened?"

"Burned alive," his brother said, clenching his fists tightly. "Tortured and burned alive and then shot in the back of the head. That's what happened. A terrible death at the hands of someone we didn't even get to kill." His voice turned icy as he finished the sentence.

"Damn." Din gritted his teeth. "DAMMIT!"

"Watch it," Shadrach said. "There are probably lingering combatants around here. The last thing we need to do is attract more attention before our extract.

The Vaporeon stepped forward and grabbed the Eeveelution by the lapels. "What?" he said, shaking the Umbreon. "Talal is dead, and all you care about is whether we make noise or not? What's wrong with you?"

Shadrach offered no visible resistance to Din's treatment, and instead turned his head away from the upset Vaporeon. "Would you want him to have made his sacrifice in vain?"

"What?"

"He died for something. It's not hard to tell. So do you want that something to evaporate with the rest of us if we get killed here?"

Din jerked. "Why you-"

Shadrach removed the Vaporeon's paws from his fatigues. "Sorry. I guess I've seen death one too many times..." He offered a heartless chuckle before checking his watch. "And our transport arrives in about a minute as well," he mused as Jul quickly restrained an angered Din.

"But this area is still hot," Siria said.

The Umbreon only smiled in return. "Watch."

Siria turned towards the gradual thwup, thwup approaching in the distance, feeling more and more apprehensive about the setup. All insurgents knew that an optimal time for an ambush was whenever the soldiers were busy loading onto a transport.

Her fears were quickly displaced as the silhouette of the helicopter came into view. It was far bigger than the ones that they were always used to. There seemed to be some guns mounted on the doors that were bigger than the standard miniguns...

BANG BANG BANG.

Siria was surprised that none of the tracers she saw before accompanied the guns' blasts. Her perplexity turned into great surprise as roads, alleyways, and buildings surrounding their position lit up with small but powerful explosions. The transport pumped out round after round as it began its descent towards the Special Forces operators, blasting away any threats that it detected on the ground.

The minute the helicopter touched down, its loading ramp lowered to the ground with a mechanical whir. Three 'mon stepped out of the cavernous belly of the chopper.

"Situation," a Salamence said, shifting a set of heavy goggles up from her eyes.

"Seven stable, one KIA, ten POWs." Shadrach pointed to the Kecleon sitting a distance away, surprised to see a yellow figure beating the lights out of one of them.

"Going to be nine if your friend doesn't stop," Justine replied airily. "Lamar, Erik. We need the stretcher." A Charizard and a Swellow dutifully passed with the item in question.

Siria saw the two coming, and nudged Nuwai slightly. She started with a growl, flashing her eyes at the two Airborne soldiers.

She implicitly bowed down and picked up Talal's charred body. As she set the corpse on the stretcher, Erik dropped his jaw, never having been treated to a gruesome sight before. Lamar simply clenched his maw shut instead. Otherwise, he probably would have thrown up.

As the two carried the stretcher back into the waiting helicopter, Siria and Shadrach walked back to where the prisoners were being held.

THWACK.

"-and maybe if you wouldn't stick your nose into others' issues-"

CRACK.

"-and get a little bit of self-decency-"

Levina raised her arm back for a third punch, only to be restrained by a fuming Shadrach. "Levina, we treat our prisoners with respect."

"Respect? Do you even know what they were thinking of doing?"

The Umbreon sighed. "Getting out of their binds and killing us. Yes, yes, I know. Now please stop harming him."

She shot him a glare before storming off into the waiting helicopter. Siria gave her a concerned glance before turning her attention to the POWs. They got up as she silently motioned for them to rise.

"Move it," said Shadrach. The normal-types raggedly marched to the chopper as the Latias led them. Neither of the two wanted the prisoners to try something sneaky after they've come so far.

Siria looked around the inside of the helicopter, impressed by its size. It was large enough to comfortably accommodate all the troops as well as the prisoners. She took a seat next to Shadrach, watching several Airborne troops position themselves at the door guns as the loading ramp raised up and closed.

"AGLs," Shadrach said, motioning towards one of them.

She watched as they slipped their goggles on and started to sweep the grenade launchers left and right.

"Thermal vision. That's how they were able to pinpoint the insurgents as they came down." They saw the Salamence turn and nod slightly at Shadrach's explanation.

"How do they know that the 'mon they hit weren't civilians?" Siria asked, worry etched all over her face.

"Intel told us that there weren't any on the east side!" Justine said as the helicopter lurched forward. The Latias frowned deeply, remembering the Bayleef that she and Jul had encountered back then.

"Don't worry about it," Shadrach said, placing a paw on hers.

She started. "But-"

"We have all the time to worry when we get back to base," he said as he pecked her cheek. "You're alive. That's all that counts right now." He then pulled her into a tight hug. The Latias put up no struggle to his advance.

"You know," he whispered into her ear, darting his eyes back to see if anyone was watching him. "I missed you."

"As did I," she said quietly, agreeing to the implicit pact of secrecy Shadrach suggested.

"And... I'm sorry. I didn't live up to my promise." He smiled somberly. It was one of the few times that he could crack his perfectionist veneer and admit that he had failed at something.

"I..." She rested her head on his shoulder, trying to think of a response. "That's fine," she said lightly.

"What?"

"I know there was no way for you to come back and save me. That's fine, though; you know I'm no weakling myself. I didn't intend for you to constantly baby me when I asked you, you know."

"Yeah, but still."

"Still?"

"I'm guilty."

"It's not your fault," she insisted. "I know that and you know that, so let's not worry about it for now. After all, we have all the time in the world when we get back to base." The Latias yawned.

He couldn't help but smile as he heard his own words reciprocated to him. "Very well, then." He released her, only to be surprised when she didn't let go. A quick look at her face revealed that she was already asleep. The Umbreon considered trying to get out of her embrace for a moment, but ultimately decided against it for her sake.

---

A blackened, ragged figure crawled on a dusty street in the city of Riyaq. The fire on his back had long been extinguished by a sudden and, as he perceived it, unfair attack. In his given state, he couldn't have cared less about the explosions and shouts in the background as he struggled to move another foot forward.

"Damn... you... Halcyians." He grunted as his body halted, no longer willing to function. His legs were nothing more than bloody stumps; his left arm, likewise. The other was a grotesque excuse for one, completely mottled and disfigured by hideous boils and pus-filled gashes. Several fist-sized holes lined his body, the many, many experimental drugs he had used on himself not being able to fully repair all of the damage done to him.

He coughed blood onto the cracked asphalt, watching it seep into the dirt between the cracks. "Damn... I didn't think of... how...?"

Aiden gripped a small patch of cloth with his "good" paw. As a sudden pain shot up his arm, he dropped the lab coat pocket. A syringe filled with a dark, blackish substance rolled out on to the pavement before his eyes.

He stared at it for a moment before sighing. "So... this is what it's come to... the original..." The liquid swirled within, the only model of Shadow that he had not commissioned or designed himself. To survive, he was going to have to use the first model supplied by that individual.

He reached forth and grasped it, pushing the sharp, surgical needle into his neck. As the fire-type felt the slight sting and the blood rushing by the impediment, he then pushed the plunger down with a crazed grin.

"This is for you, Lugia."