Chapter XII: Tango Down...
The hostile jeep had backed away, far from the blast radius of both the missile and the van exploding. Suddenly the missile seemed to stop just inside the rear doors. It hovered there for a few moments, smoke pluming out of the rear still, before I turned around to see Latias floating behind me, arms outstretched, eyes glowing a magnificent cobalt colour.
"She...she just...just stopped the rocket. Just like that..." I stammered, shaken with fear of my own demise.
Latias turned her attention to me, eyes still bright blue, and gave me a simple, cheeky smile. With a quick flick of her paw, the missile flipped round to face the direction it came from. She dropped her arms, allowing the metallic reaper to jettison itself back out the van.
"Bloody nora!" Josh cooed, watching the trail of white.
The eyes of the soldiers, behind us, widened their eyes in fear. The driver nearly ripped out the lever as he pulled the handbrake and skidded sideways. The rocket slammed into the side of the vehicle before shattering into a gigantic plume of smoke, shrapnel and body. Let's just say S.P.A.S will need to spend money on more soldiers...
Latias floated beside me and placed a paw onto my shoulder, where she gave me the same cheeky smile. She then gestured for us to sit down again, where I complied to the fullest extent, rather shocked by the recent ordeal. I mean it's not every day you have a rocket nearly blow your head off, as well as every other limb, before turning around and flying back to where it came from, is it?
Latias lay her head onto my shoulder, and purred softly. I placed my hand next to her face and gently caressed her exposed cheek, causing her to purr louder...
"Sorry to break up you two lovebirds but I just thought I'd let you know, we're actually here." Pryce interrupted, suddenly.
Latias raised her head and looked me into the eyes. They seemed to glisten brightly to me, very much in the same way water does on a sunny day. I tore myself away from her gaze and stood up. She followed, briskly.
"Alright, everybody onboard. We're heading back to Vermillion and there's no two ways about it." Pryce instructed, firmly, as he climbed into the pilots seat.
"I doubt we'd want to come back after going anyway..." I muttered under my breath.
Slinging the weapon inside the seating area, and letting Latias in first, I climbed aboard and sat down, clumsily. Latias must have been waiting for me to sit down first because as soon as I did, she sat next to me...
I could tell she kept staring at me with her golden eyes, even when I was making conversation to David and Josh about how bad the day's been so far.
"Honest to god, I hope she's not in her heat..." I thought, as the chopper lifted, smoothly, off the ground.
Every now and again I gave her a passing glance, and a smile, just to show I acknowledged that she was actually there, before continuing my conversation, knowing that she'd continue to stare. It's not like it made me uncomfortable or anything, it's just it felt like she wanted me for some reason or another, though I wasn't quite sure what. I didn't really think about it that much to be honest.
"Alright guys, we're over the sea now and we're about to pass over to 'the other side'." Pryce laughed,
"I hope he means we're off to Kanto." David said.
Watching the waves outside the windows, I wondered how we managed to arrive back at my house without us even realising we'd gone from somewhere completely different. Not even a slight lurch in the stomach. Curious, I continued to look outside, determined to see how it was done.
The waves seemed so calm, so peaceful way out here. That was before a slight purple tinge came around, before quickly subsiding. Still watching the waves, I noticed a school of very strange fish under the water. I couldn't tell what they were from where I was, because they were too far down. Noticing the water had gotten a little rougher all of a sudden, I watched the fish surface. To my dismay, I found out that the school of fish were in fact a large group of 'Feebas', that being a rather, weak, ugly fish Pokémon.
"What the hell? We're back here again..." I said, racking my brain,
"There's not much to the shift between here and your perception of Earth." Pryce called, looking back to us.
Perception of Earth? What the hell did he mean 'perception'?
"Perception?" I asked, vacantly,
"Well you see, your perception of Earth is where you all have 'normal' creatures, those being what you call cats, dogs, birds, etcetera. Over here we've got what's known as Pokémon." Pryce replied, heading for land,
"That doesn't really help as I can see that already." I said, scratching my head, not able to get my head around the situation,
"Basically, where we are is Earth. Just different to the one you live in. It just so happens that there was absolutely no travel between the two 'Earths' until little over a year ago. That also happens to be, roughly, the same time your 'girlfriend' ended up over there, with you." Pryce added,
"So you're saying that it's Latias who's allowed people to travel between the Pokémon Earth and our Earth?" I asked,
"In a way, yes. That's why we've been keeping an eye on both you and Latias." He continued,
Atleast I now knew why they were watching me 'closely'. It's because they suspected that Latias had somehow ripped open some sort of portal, or something, to our Earth and the Pokémon version. And as simple as it may sound, it still made my head spin.
As we flew over land, and over the outskirts of Vermillion, a high pitched beeping noise rang through the helicopter's hull.
"Shi-" Pryce went to say,
Suddenly a loud hiss and an explosion, followed by the sound of tearing metal filled the air.
"We're going down!" Pryce shouted, as we plummeted down to the 'other Earth'.
As I clung to the hand rails, by the seats (as did everyone else), I could see tall skyscrapers come into view, as we got closer and closer before everything shattered and went black...
There was a dull groan around me. Searing heat could be felt. I could feel a thick, viscous fluid touching my bare skin as it seeped away somewhere. Trying to open my eyes, I could see the surrounding area, even if it was blurry. The seating area we were sitting in seemed to be tilted to one side. I thought it was just the way I had gotten up. Problem was, it wasn't me. The helicopter had crashed into the ground, wrecking it, as well as everything inside it. I looked at my hands and arms, only to see them covered in blood and various cuts. I stumbled over to the pilot's seat and grabbed hold of the burnt, ripped fabric. I leant in and saw Pryce. Except... except he was leaning forward, face on the controls. I gently pulled his body backwards to find blood trailing from his nose and mouth, as well as a blank expression plastered on his stained face.
"Crap. Pryce is..." I swallowed hard,"Dead..." My heart sank, knowing that the one who'd helped us survive for so long had died trying to get us to safety. I etched it into my own mind that I'd never forget all he did for me. Me and my friends. The only thing I could do was to leave him, holding back tears of pain, and head for the hatch, which was open to the sky. Grabbing the M14 and FAMAS, I heaved myself out of the crashed cobra and over the edge of the foot rail, not being particularly careful about the surrounding area. Looking around I noticed that there was no one around. Odd. I also noticed that there were cars that had either crashed into each other, or into the residing buildings.
"What the bloody hell happened here?" I asked myself, as though crashing a helicopter into the ground didn't just happen.
Looking over to a pair of cars that'd crashed into each other, in the middle of the road, I saw David and Josh, hiding.
"What the hell are you doing behind burning cars?" I asked, curious as to why they seemed to be metaphorically soiling themselves,
"Sniper!" Josh hissed,
"Sniper?" I asked again, wondering what the fudge he was on about,
Just then a bullet, quite literally, pierced through the mangled shell of the helicopter. Let me tell you now, I got behind those bust up cars like no one's business. I hadn't been killed yet, and wasn't about to let that go just yet.
"Where the fu-" I was cut off as another bullet pierced the floor nearby, "Where the hell did he come from?" I shouted, pulling the chamber back.
"How the hell should we know?" Josh shouted back,
Suddenly, APC's, came hurtling down the deserted roads and bounced up the kerbs onto the thick grass. Shredding the dirt as they slammed on the brakes, hard, and came to rest, parallel.
"Things just keep getting better and better..." I sighed,
Doors slammed, footsteps crunched guns loading. This. Was going to be a bloodbath.
"All we can do is hold out. These vehicles should keep us covered from their weapons, giving us some advantage over them. However they'll probably be..." I stopped as another .50cal smashed the tarmac, "...probably be pretty damn durable and heavily armed." I finished, not seemingly disturbed by the spray of black dust from the floor peppering my face.
"Should?" David and Josh chorused,
Ignoring them, I looked around.
"Where's Latias?" I asked, spontaneously,
"You and that bloody dragon!" Josh hissed,
"That 'bloody dragon' is what's keeping my clinging to hope at the moment, and if you can't appreciate that then I'd suggest you shut the hell up." I spat back.
Josh was dumbfounded. He seemed to listen to my advice though. Then again I don't reckon he thought for one minute I'd let him slag her off in front of me without having a 7.62 jammed up his ass.
My attention was turned to David, who was timidly fiddling around with his crossbow.
"Dave? That relic ain't gonna do much out here." I said sliding the FAMAS towards him, "You need something instant." I smiled,
David slung the crossbow over his back and retrieved the weapon, nodding in confirmation.
"So..." another bullet pinged the wrecked chassis as orders were being given out from a distance away, "...anyone want to tell me where she is?" I asked again, firmly,
"We last saw her when you were together, in the helicopter. Before it hit the floor, me and Josh got flung out onto the road, escaping anything serious. Where's Pryce." David replied,
"...Dead..." I mumbled, letting a tear form in the corner of my tightly shut eyes. "Let's not forget him but let's not dwell on him." I said wiping away the droplet, "If anything he'd want us to do all that we can to get the hell away from here, unscathed." I continued.
With that I pulled the chamber back on the M14, stood up, completely disregarding the sniper, and shouted "Die you bastards!" before squeezing the trigger and killing a soldier outright, as more tears dripped from my eyes.
"Jesus Christ!" David blasphemed, yanking me onto the floor again.
I wept quietly, leaning against the overturned car, as enemy voices cooed over their dead comrade, and issued orders of 'kill them all'.
"Come on man. We'll get out of here. We just gotta hang tight!" Josh said,
Suddenly, there was a loud scream, coming from where the sniper was shooting from. That was all it took for the enemy to take their attention off of us.
It's also what gave me the opportunity to shoot another one of the heartless gits, before being sprayed mercilessly at again.
"For God's sake! Stay down!" Josh hissed,
"I wonder what caused that guy to scream..." David thought out loud,
What did cause that guy to scream, and so apparently, involuntarily fall out of their window?
"OPEN FIRE, OPEN FIRE!" The soldier's CO shouted, followed by a hail of gunfire towards the buildings in the opposite direction.
"Josh... where. Is. Latias?" I asked again, calmly
"...she...i..." Josh stuttered, as I coldly stared him in the eyes.
"We... we don't know..." David chirped in, saving Josh from my cold glare, "I'm sure she's alright, though." He continued,
Loud gunfire rattled through the air as I slumped against the battered remains of the vehicle we were cowering behind; fresh blood splatters spraying the floor next to the wheel.
As I picked the combat knife, that Pryce gave me earlier, up; I watched as an enemy soldier came under fire, as he backed towards our position. Tripping backwards over a piece of damaged helicopter, I took as much pleasure as I possibly could in swiftly inserting the whole blade into his sternum, resulting in him dropping his weapon and uttering garbled words at me, before his head dropped to one side; mouth dripping blood.
As bullets peppered both bodies and buildings alike, the remaining soldiers got back into their APC's and escaped, leaving the devastation behind. Removing the knife, wiping the liquid onto my jeans, I inserted it into my pocket; handle out. I could hear footsteps emanating from behind the vehicle we were behind, getting closer and closer...
Josh and David inserted new magazines into the chambers as I pulled back the charging pin. Gesturing for the other two to stand up, with me, on the mark of '3'. Mouthing the numbers, we stood up, aimed down sight at the approaching target to find that it was... Lieutenant Surge.
Making a rather sudden 'stand down' gesture, I approached Surge, face to face.
"Looks like you've caused quite a disturbance, here in downtown Saffron." He said, letting his rifle hang by his side.
"Careful Surge... we might have taken you down by mistake..." I hummed, switching my weapon to safety.
Surge just smiled before retrieving his walkie-talkie and saying, "This is Charlie 2-0, area secure, I repeat, area secure. Form up on my position."
Soon, a small squad of black armoured soldiers poured out of the alley next to the snipers building, triggering the idea that they'd pushed him out the window.
"I'm gonna be blunt with you boys. SPAS are bearing down on you, and your friends, and will most likely do so till they get what they want... or kill you. Back at HQ we've talked over the options, and I'm sorry to say, it's far too dangerous for you to go back home." Surge said, slinging his gun over his shoulder.
"...meaning...?" Josh asked, standing next to me,
"Meaning that you can either head back to your world and be caught, tortured and killed or you can stay in this one and make it much harder for 'em to find you all, and make it much easier for us to protect you." He replied, sternly.
"Well shit... where do you expect us to stay?" I said, unable to comprehend leaving my family behind.
"In the Vermillion barracks... at least for a while. Safest place for you, till they cut back on their attempts anyway. After that... you'll be able to do whatever you want; you'll be older by then." Surge stated,
"Older? How long do you expect us to live here?" I asked, getting pretty distressed,
"All I can say is; till they hold up on their attempts. That's as good as It can get." He replied, solemnly. "Come on, we'd better go. We'll honour Pryce when it's safer." Surge said, walking away,
"How'd he know Pryce was killed...?" I thought, as I followed the squad, round the corner of a building,
"Lucas... before we continue... there's just one thing you need to know." The Lieutenant said, quietly.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse...
Surge opened up the back his armoured van revealing a bloodied heap of cloth, with something underneath it.
"Now Lucas... I'm sorry for what you're about to see... but it's important..." he continued, taking hold of part of the sheet.
My stomach began to feel like it was caving on itself, I guessed what the heap was, but didn't want to see if I was right...
"... I really am sorry."
Removing the cloth, my greatest fears were realised. Lying before me, in a bloodied, furry, load was the one I'd cherished and swore to protect for so long. Lying before me, completely lifeless, covered in gashes and a large wound in its neck, was my Latias. Shot straight through the throat by the enemy whilst the rest of our group were unconscious.
"She was trying to find us, to help you. Prior to this, we already noticed you were inbound, so we were already on our way. Unfortunately so did the enemy. As Latias approached us, covered in injuries from the crash, a sniper took aim and... well...this." Surge said, quietly,
Dropping my weapon to the floor with a loud clatter, I ran over to her body and hugged her, despite the amount of blood, still dripping. I wept loudly into her fur, crying about how I'd broken my promise to look after her...to keep her safe.
"Get in men; we need to get out of here..." Surge said, climbing into the driver's seat,
Josh and David got into the back of the van, with the squad, and shut the door behind them, quashing any internal noise...
The love is lost and the light is diminishing; all we can do is cower behind those bigger than us...