Chapter 75 Semper Fi Part 2
Before Chapter 75 I wish to say that this chapter contains some bad language.
"I'm glad to have all our troops back as well as the extra ammunition." White mind talks to me.
"Yeah I've already thanked Uni, she's such a great help and I highly appreciate what she just did. It's great to be back at full health and have more supplies, to top it off Uni will be watching us via satellite and all of our available forces have landed in Lowee. It's all looking good and now it's just a matter of finding the nearest camp so that tomorrow we can focus on wiping out Team Rocket in Viridian Forest, as well as uniting the groups of Loweean resistance with our army stationed here. Uni's informed me that a fairly large allied force is along the path of where we're going, but so are a couple of enemy bases as well as plenty more enemies." I mind talk back.
With us all assembled together I take one last look ahead of us before moving out. I can't help but be baffled as to how there seems to be so many of them, and that despite their weapons being inferior to those of Lowee that they were able to take over Pokémon province and are able to wipe out the majority, if not nearly all of the species of Pokémon in this province perhaps all of Lowee itself. Once again I can't help but feel that someone is pulling the strings just as I did back in Lastation. I just can't help but feel I'm fighting an organisation that are working for a much more secret, much more powerful organisation but who exactly are they? And have I ever encountered them before in my past? It's hard to say though my gut says it's the case.
I guess maybe along with our quest to liberate Lowee or perhaps during this war, I might be able to get more answers but for now there is the matter of regrouping with the Loweeans living in this forest, who are nearest to our position. It's fighting in the forest in the dark now but with Uni, my vision, my tactics and our perk a colas we should be fine. I can only hope that we get to meet up with them so that we have a chance to rest in the safety of an allied camp, away from enemy patrols, though this may be easier said than done. Still I won't give in and neither does any of our allies, in fact I'm ready to move out now and I'm sure everyone else is as well.
"Ok is everyone good." I ask my troops.
They all nod thankful for the supplies they have received, compliments to Uni and Noire's stealth plane.
"OK friendlies should be in this area but so are plenty more enemies, if we keep at it we'll be at the allied camp. OK let's move." I order only for us all to head into the forest.
"This place sure is something in the dark." Buck comments as he notices the lack of light after leaving the camp.
"It wouldn't surprise me if Team Rocket is at home in this shit." Sully replies.
After which we rush loosely together, moving forward. I can't help but notice how we're surrounded by very tall trees but at least the full moon helps to guide is in the dark, well to a small extent. But even though I am not afraid of the dark, I can't help but feel uneasy as I'm sure Team Rocket will have laid out some traps, if what this all reminds me off means anything to me. Another thing I notice is that other than us there doesn't seem to be much life around here, no wildlife at all not even any bugs like Caterpies and Weedles.
Although we do our best not to make much noise as we move forward, the sounds of footsteps from our boots is agonisingly too loud for us but there's nothing I can really do about that. Eventually we find what looks like a small statue or perhaps a shrine, it appears to be made of stone or marble, a bit difficult to tell with the lack of light. It appears to be in the shape of the Caterpie Pokémon which has the shape of a caterpillar. Unfortunately it appears to be ruined from acid rain, though I suspect foul play and it wouldn't surprise me if it was actually vandalised. I can sense the anger from my fellow Loweeans for such atrocity, but they don't make any noise.
I can smell a trap and my vision confirms this as I see about a dozen of Team Rocket soldiers hiding amongst the trees waiting to ambush us.
"I'll check it out guys, wait here and watch for enemies." I say to my troops.
Hopefully I can lure them to a small sense of security. I walk towards the shrine knowing full well it's going to be booby trapped.
Note: Readers please listen to World at War Banzai Charge Soundtrack while reading this:
Just as I thought I tread on a rope which ties around my ankle and pulls me up, so I'm upside down and I've also activated some grenades which explodes below me. Fortunately thanks to the perk a colas I'm fine, and I feel no pain from the explosion and my body is intact. In fact I don't even feel funny or dizzy from being hung upside down. After which I hear Team Rocket screaming as they show themselves and try to engage our troops, but even though their positions are fairly spread out they die pretty quickly before they're able to kill or even wound any of our troops.
It's not long before the ambush has been dealt with and my troops then come to my aid. Buck tries to cut the rope down with his knife, while the rest of the troops hold me so I wouldn't fall down. With a simple cut I am free and after which my entire team lowers me but moves my body, so that I'm effectively lying down before they move me so that I am able to stand.
"Thanks for the help everyone, ok let's keep going." I order them with much appreciation for my troops rescuing me.
We then move through the forest while I look with my vision, to see if there are any more enemies waiting to ambush us all.
"Our allies should be nearby now." I tell my allies.
"Pick up the pace everyone." White orders our troops.
It's not long before I then see what must be a base, as there's an outpost that's guarded with machine guns and large flood lights, a few huts as well as a good number of machine gun placements along with plenty of riflemen guarding it.
Although this base appears to be smaller than the one White was found in, it's still well guarded and my gut tells me that they have the means to give even our allies who have larger numbers some trouble. It is now I see the allied troops in the distance as they try and find hiding places as close to the camp as possible, so that they can neutralise their fire power. But just as I feared they have been spotted as I hear gun fire between Team Rocket and our allies. This concerns me deeply and we need to take action now.
"Shit they have been spotted." Buck speaks with concern.
It is then that Uni informs me of groups of Team Rocket infantry moving in from both our left and ahead of us.
"OK everyone we need to take out their gunners as well as the enemy reinforcements that are heading for their position, we need to take the heat off our allied forces. I'll deal with the spotlight." I say to my allies.
It is then my forces split up with one half of our forces heading left to deal with the reinforcements. I'd be pleasantly surprised if they're able to deal with them without any help, but at least hopefully they can be revived when the camp has been captured. There are just so many enemies and I know they'll probably die, but we need to take out the machine guns before we can deal with the reinforcements. As for the rest of my troops, half of them charge in to secure the camp itself while the remaining troops are with me, White, Buck and Sully trying to attack the gunners at a distance.
Although my group doesn't appear to have as many numbers to engage the gunners, it is my hope that I can at least distract the gunners while our allies move in to capture it. Unfortunately I realise now that I am unable to send troops to stall the enemy reinforcements coming from our front, from behind their camp. This is no good and I am concerned our allies will be pinned down and attacked from two fronts.
Although I manage to shoot the spot lights and even manage to kill the gunners from the outpost, quite a good number of my troops die from trying to shoot the gunners. They even shoot at me and I find myself having to crawl on the ground, in a desperate attempt to avoid their fire. This is not ideal especially considering how I actually see enemy reinforcements from far away at the front, just as Uni reported. We do our best to wipe out the gunners but they're still able to do their job, as our allies are forced to crawl and try and find what little cover there is for them, only to now have to deal with the enemy reinforcements. In fact I can't help but notice how they're dying at a fairly rapid rate, which saddens me with grief and concerns me a lot.
Hmmmm I think I'll have to change my strategy on this one.
"Paula, Buck, Sully you three come with me. The rest of you provide covering fire then deal with the reinforcements coming in from the left. Do your best to stall them for as long as you can, climb up the trees and use them for cover." I order them.
I can just predict the huts being guarded by a boss or two, and I know we'll perhaps get shot by some of the remaining gunners in the hut. But we need to neutralise those gunners if our troops are to stand a chance, if anyone can do this it's us.
We rush as fast as the perk a colas allow us and we cover ground at such a rapid rate, though we do get shot a few times unfortunately. It's not long before we reach one of the huts, which over look our allied reinforcements and soon afterwards we start engaging the troops inside. This includes the very gunners that concern me and just as I thought there is a boss inside carrying a Type 99, along with about a couple of dozen troops as well. This is going to be tricky but what about the other huts; they're probably going to be just as difficult to deal with as this one. We have to split up.
"OK I'll deal with these guys; I want the 3 of you to deal with the gunners in this hut before splitting up. Paula you deal with the other hut furthest away from the enemy reinforcements, while the two of you deal with the other hut. Neutralise the enemies inside then deal with the enemy reinforcements attacking our own reinforcements." I order my troops: Paula, Buck and Sully.
I know that it will be a lot for me to deal with on my own, but it's important to keep our allied casualties as low as possible and hopefully this plan will work for the best.
Fortunately I have cover so using my pistol I am able to take out the soldiers one by one, but I become wary of the boss' firepower from his machine gun as I find myself ducking regularly. Because of this I am not able to deal with the enemy troops as quickly as I'd like, not only this but now I notice the remaining troops doing a banzai charge. This doesn't look good as it's all of them against me.
I try and back away while crouching and shoot as many as I can with my Type 100, but although I wipe out about half of them they are now constantly stabbing me with their bayonets. They are a bit painful individually, but when it's together like this it's rather painful and worrying as my health is falling at quite a rapid pace. I eventually manage to wipe out the rest of them with my gun after a few reloads, but now I'm about under half health and my wounds are taking its toll on me, as I'm starting to ache from my agonisingly painful injuries as well as losing a bit of blood.
Although the boss' guards have been dealt with I'm not sure I'm in the best shape to take the boss himself on, and I know that enemy reinforcements of about a couple hundred strong are heading to this camp. I'm thinking about luring them to my allies so that together we can deal with this threat, I just hope that my allies are doing alright though it wouldn't surprise me if they were struggling. It's then that due to me being occupied with his soldiers that the boss opens fire on me with his machine gun, and it proves to be quite deadly against me as even more of my health and blood are gone as each of his painful bullets hit me. I try and fire back at him and despite being able to fire plenty of shots before he can reload thanks to the perk a colas, he's still standing and he does not appear wounded. Hmmmm. How to deal with this?
I try a different tactic and try and move around a lot in an effort to make him miss his shots, as he fires at me once more. But while he misses more, I still get hit and with each hit I sustain it worries me all the more as my health gets lower and lower. Thankfully he has to reload again giving me another window of opportunity, and although my health is getting quite low at about 25% now I'm still alive and still able to fight.
I open fire with my submachine gun again like before, but this time my bullets hitting him are starting to take its toll against him. He's now clutching various body parts just like I am and he is bleeding quite badly just like me. Once again I'm not in the ideal shape to continue fighting and I'll need to recover, but I haven't got the time to do so. I guess I have to deal with this boss for now and worry about my health when he's dealt with. At least now if I can survive his barrage he's as good as dead, but I am wary of the enemy reinforcements coming our way. The thing is though while I have noticed the hut having a radio inside, it doesn't work. No doubt it's down to Uni using her EMP blast which thanks to the physics of this universe, only targets enemy electronics and is harmless to allied ones. I really appreciate how Uni always thinks ahead; she's done the same thing to the last camp and no doubt to all the camps in this area perhaps all of Viridian Forest.
As I attempt to evade the boss' fire I mind talk to White.
"How it's going over there?" I ask her.
"Well both huts are secure but unfortunately we're still engaging the enemy reinforcements, and there's still a good number of them." She reports showing a mixture of emotions due to the news being mixed.
"Very well. I wish for Buck and Sully to come to my hut as enemy reinforcements are coming to my position. Meanwhile I would like for you to wipe out the enemy reinforcements at your hut as best you can." I ask her via mind talk.
"Sure not a problem." White replies to me.
Although I manage to communicate with my ally, doing so isn't easy as I am being shot quite a few times by my enemy. But while I feel quite close to death I somehow find the strength to continue going. I must admit being at low health seems to be quite a regular occurrence for me since I've been in Lowee fighting Team Rocket. I guess I must be used to it although I am in serious agony, but I need to be careful as I finish off this boss, particularly with how there are dozens more Team Rocket troops coming in my direction. I need help to deal with him.
Pretty soon after I finish my communication with White I fire back at him doing my best to aim despite being in serious pain, despite being used to it it's still difficult to concentrate in dealing with the enemy. I could do with some medicine to patch me up, but while I have some I can't exactly use it now as I'm busy fighting the enemy and ideally I was hoping to save the medicine for the allies in Lowee. I just hope that Uni is able to spare some more supplies, it's not ideal at all considering she's already supplied us once and I completely understand why she may be unable to considering how it's needed for the Lastation war effort.
Fortunately the perk a colas still work as thanks to them, I am able to wipe out this boss before he finishes reloading and while I have to reload myself, it doesn't take so long to reload. Plus which there is also the matter of making him flinch while I shoot at him, and him being in pain as well slows him down considerably even more than me.
After the boss is dealt with I find myself breathing heavily, perhaps relieved that I'm still alive and still going even now. The thing is there is a significant part of me that wishes to just hide and rest, perhaps let my troops do the best they can in dealing with the remaining enemies. No I can't do that. What kind of leader would I be if I didn't fight with my troops? For the sake of our future I have to keep fighting. I may be severely wounded to the point of my health being low perhaps pretty close to single figures as a percentage, but I have to keep fighting. I will definitely recover after this but I have to keep going for now.
Despite my body wanting to rest I look to see where the enemy troops are, as well as to see if I can see Buck and Sully coming to my location. Unfortunately it's the worst outcome as I see the enemy reinforcements closing in on my hut rushing as quickly as they can doing a banzai charge, they must have broken through and wiped out the troops I sent to stall them. Even worse is there's still a large number of them, in fact they're in the dozens. I guess there's nothing for it but to use the mounted machine guns to try and hold them off. My allies are nowhere to be seen unfortunately, they should be here soon but how soon I don't know perhaps not soon enough for me.
Never the less I do my best to engage the enemies and at the very least attempt to bleed the enemy dry. Unfortunately even that proves to have little effect, as while I do kill about a dozen or so of them the lack of rounds per magazine forces me to reload quite often. In fact most of the enemy end up getting through, and so I then decide to leave the machine gun to look at the entrance, only I find that in an instant there are loads of them coming out through the door. I try and stop them with my sub machine gun but the effect is even smaller than the machine gun. I only manage to wipe out about half a dozen, the rest of them keep coming through.
I guess there's nothing for it. At least I have one more card to play before I end up dying by them. I decide to retreat to my allies, I might as well considering that they'll be dealing with my allies anyway even if I was to die, here making my last stand while trying to hold them off. Besides which I hope that the other enemy army would have been defeated by now, though at what cost? Probably a lot of allied troops no doubt.
As I run away from the hut I find Buck and Sully enter the building, they open fire killing a few of the enemy troops as I run as fast as I can. I then order my two allies to head to White's position.
"White have you managed to defeat the enemy army yet?" I ask her by mind talk.
"They're almost defeated but unfortunately so have the rest of our troops, many have died from the enemy machine gun fire as well as from the enemy army. Unfortunately my health is pretty low, how's it where you are?" White replies to me, sounding quite upset with the bad news.
"It's alright we've all done our best, anyway we have our own share of bad news as the enemy army have defeated our allies and they're still numerous in the dozens. We're going to retreat to one of the huts and hopefully take them out there. Try and head to the hut opposite with whatever troops you have left, when you have defeated the enemy army there." I order my ally White.
She obeys but I can tell from her voice even if it is by mind talk that her morale is starting to fall now, and her health is pretty low along with the numbers of our allied army. This isn't looking good, I guess we'll have to make our last stand at the hut and man each machine gun. At least the perk a colas help us to gain speed against the enemy troops pursuing us with their bayonets. But somehow I doubt that this has bought us much time to hold off the enemy attack, there are still plenty of them chasing us and I'm unsure if we'll be able to wipe out a significant number of them before they reach our position.
In any case it's not long before we reach the hut and we waste no time in manning the machine guns there. As we fire and reload I look at my two allies who fight bravely with me to see that they're in no better shape to fight than I am. But just as I do they keep going and keep fighting for as long as they possibly can.
Although I notice a good number of them dying, more rapidly than before there's still plenty more where that came from. It gets to a point after having to reload a few times that they've made it through our gun fire, so we decide to aim at the entrance with our weapons in a last attempt to kill them before they kill us. It's not looking good at all and although I try and fight it, I get the feeling that we're going to die here more and more. I do my best to supress my worrying thoughts of inevitable defeat and repeating my failure, but it becomes more and more difficult as the situation worsens.
Astonishingly although they try and come in through the door, they don't do a banzai charge against us. I reckon this must be because they know we can out run them and just man some machine guns and bleed them once more. Another thing I notice is how there are a few of them who stand in the entrance, and even some leaning out hoping to get a pot shot at us. But what this effectively means is that we're not being overwhelmed by superior numbers, and we're able to pretty much kill them group by group while they're only able to fire a few bullets from their Arisakas and that's if they're lucky.
It does worry me that we have to reload our weapons fairly often allowing them to shoot us without dying immediately, but that only happens occasionally as I order the three of us to take it turns firing our weapons between me and Buck with Sully helping whenever he can with his rifle.
Oddly enough after wiping out about a couple of dozen of them with this technique, I hear gun shots coming from the entrance of the hut but they're not shooting at us. They must be engaging White and the remaining allied troops we have.
Despite our health being at an all-time low we decide to assist White by engaging the remaining enemy Team Rocket grunts, fortunately by this time their numbers are only about a couple of dozen.
After a brief fire fight the combined efforts of me, Buck, Sully, White and our very few remaining troops were enough to wipe out what's left of the Team Rocket forces, as we effectively managed to surround them from two sides. But sadly even that meant that we have lost all of our troops and White's health is pretty close to 0.
I look around to find that there are no more Team Rocket troops left which is a huge relief, but it is sad to find that so have all of our own troops and our health is unbelievably low. Right now we are in no fit state to continue as there is another enemy camp to go through before we make it to our allies. Although the four of us have the ability to heal automatically over time, we don't have the time for it and I'm not sure I can deal with this immense pain I'm feeling right now as I'm bleeding constantly for at the most an hour. I'm amazed with how I've managed to deal with the pain as it's incredibly difficult, it astonishes me how I'm able to stand let alone run around and fight. The thing is even if we were to be at full health right now, we'd probably lose it straight away as we fight our way through the next camp because we no longer have any troops to assist us. This won't do at all.
At least we have enough medicine on us to restore us to full health as well as enough perk a colas for all of our fallen allies on this battlefield, but that's all we have unless Uni is able to drop off more supplies for us at our location and the Loweean allies need the supplies we have right now. I'll have to see what she says, though as if on cue she actually speaks to me first by mind talk.
"Congratulations on capturing that camp Black." Uni informs me sounding rather pleased with me.
"Thank you but as you may know we have lost all of our troops and the four of us are in pretty rough shape. Do you know if it's practical to revive all of our dead troops?" I ask her.
"It will be my pleasure but unfortunately you will have to use the supplies you have with regards drinking the perk a colas again. I am extremely sorry to say that we cannot provide any more supplies to you guys until tomorrow morning, and that will be at the camps of the Loweeans in Viridian Forest. It's because our supplies are stretched as they're needed to defend Lastation, and we don't have much spare resources to help in this sector right now and we thought it best to supply it to the Loweeans there.
I apologise for it but you're doing well especially to have wiped out two enemy camps full of enemy troops, as well as to have rescued our powerful ally White. If you can keep going you'll be able to unite with the Loweeans and with luck we'll be able to defeat the enemies in Viridian Forest group by group, and hopefully we'll be more successful in this front as time goes by.
Noire and Blanc sends her regards and they're confident just as I am that you lot will succeed. We can accept no less as our fates, the fate of our nation and our allies as well as the innocents depend on it." Uni informs me sounding apologetic but also optimistic and patriotic.
I must admit it does bring a smile to my face, to hear her have faith in me and to praise me for doing well considering the very difficult circumstances.
"It's alright I mean we are at war with Leanbox and we need to protect Lastation at all costs, with everything we have. Don't be so hard on yourselves for not being able to do more than you'd like, you always give us supplies whenever possible and hey I like how you're going to give the Loweeans some supplies tomorrow morning. It'll be much needed and appreciated; I can't begin to imagine how poor their conditions are with no decent shelter, sanitation and no food or drink. Hopefully we can change this so that they become well fed with sanitation, shelter and have good quality drinks and food.
You are absolutely right we need to stay positive. Even in Pallet Town I have been able to wipe out significant numbers of enemy forces, and for us to have captured two bases in one night while being outnumbered as well as to rescue White from her seemingly inevitable death it is a significant achievement. If we can unite our allies in Viridian Forest, we'd be able to wipe out the Team Rocket presence there grunt by grunt, patrol by patrol, camp by camp and supply convoy by supply convoy until we finally have a region of Pokémon province even if it's just a forest or a route, under our control.
Thanks a lot for the morale boost it's much appreciated." I say to her while smiling with much pride as well as nodding.
Yes I'm definitely smiling and nodding as I order my 3 friends to take some medicine to heal them up, while I see our fallen troops rising from the dead, their wounds disappear and their blood vanishes. It's such an amazing sight to see my dead army return to life and look just like as they were before they got killed. It's just like seeing my heavenly goddess empress Noire return to life after I was forced to kill her, back when Neptune told me about that nonsense regarding Arfoire.
I am grateful that Uni has saved me and my troops again, as well as to Lee for the invention of the drinks that allow us to be revived from the dead without becoming undead, zombies or monsters. Although it pleases me to have been saved multiple times in this mission alone, it does concern me about not having the means to be revived again right now or have any more medicine to heal me should I get injured, as I've used it all up to get back to full health.
At least after taking the medicine I feel better already, almost as if I've had a soothing massage or a nice warm shower or something. It's difficult to describe it if I'm honest but it's awesome not to be bleeding or to be in severe pain anymore, the medicine does a terrific job and it worked at such a fast pace getting rid of my pain, my wounds and it also cleaned up my body and clothing so I no longer have blood all over me. I feel ready and my friends feel pleased with the medicine as well, as they observe its effects. I don't think I recall medicine ever being that powerful before, it's a wonderful thing.
As I look at my troops, seeing them all happy to be alive, I need to make sure that my strategies cause as minimum casualties to our own troops as possible. This is because unfortunately this time I'm unsure if they can be revived again as easily due to supplies and practicality. But we will carry on to our allied camp and wipe out the enemy camp along the way, and I vow to use superior tactics that avoid us all getting killed. At least it shouldn't happen this time as I have more troops under my direct command, I hope.
But with this thought I say that no one fights alone and if we stick together we'll come out on top.