Thread: _|-Battle of the Bulge [Not Ready]-|_

Battle of the Bulge

Author's Note: This is a collaborative story between Evan and myself. I'll edit more here as we progress. There is a bit of violence in here since it is a War (so there is killings and stuff if you don't like that kind of stuff, stop reading here...)

“General, we’ve been going at this for some time now.” A large navy blue Empoleon grumbled as he slammed his fist onto the wall. “It is pointless to keep sending more and more troops out there.”

“Oh Captain Waler, you never seem to see the big picture.” Major Emalin said in soothing voice as she entered the bunker. Everyone in the room turned to admire the Milotic’s beauty. Her usual cream colored body was a bit dull, but nonetheless, her blue and pink scaled tail glimmered beautifully as it always had. “I see you haven’t fully understood the plan yet, which involves holding them off for now. Speaking of which, General Baron, we just got word of the Southern Raiders, they’re approaching fast. They won’t be long now.”

“Ahh, good ol’ Colonel Lennox!” A large shelled turtle bellowed. His two cannons were packed away in his armor plated shell, but were ready to be pulled out and fired at a moment’s notice. “He’s pretty fast for a Grovyle. Heck, he’s one of the fastest moving Pokémon I know. Once his team arrives, make sure I’m informed. Right now, I want you Major, to help heal as many Pokémon as you can. I know how well you and your team are at this. We need more troops up and running. The more we have, the better.” She gave a slight nod as she exited the bunker, all the eyes shifted from her back to Baron.

“Permission to speak?” Lieutenant Kingler said as he barged in, resting his enormous claw on the ground. He was a bit out of breath.

“Permission granted, what is it Lieutenant?” Blastoise replied, appearing rather impatient.

“Both Lieutenant Colonel Swampert’s and my team have already been almost wiped out.” He quickly said. “I rushed over here because he is requesting, with your permission, that Captain Waler and Captain Cloyster are sent down with their teams as back up. The defenses down there are weak, but he can holding them off for the time being. If he gets more defenses, he feels he has a good chance of over coming the attackers.” Baron cursed under his breath and moved towards the center of the room, placing his right hand on his chin.

“Yes, that would work well.” Baron said, still in thought. “Their teams can take heavy attacks. They’ll be able to do the job. Captain Waler and Captain Cloyster, I want your teams assembled quickly and then head out there to reinforce Lieutenant Colonel Swampert.” Captain Waler looked angrily at Blastoise, but retreated to gather his team. No one dared speak out against Baron Von Blastoise’s orders. Some were afraid to, but they all knew Blastoise did what was best for them all.

“Sorry to be late General.” Colonel Starmie said, bowing as he entered the Bunker. Lieutenant Kingler and Captain Cloyster moved passed him to gather their troops. “We had to take care of a small Fire tactics team that we encountered trying to sneak our area. We managed to take them out and bring back a hostage to be interrogated with your permission.”

“Certainly, but I must be present during this procedure.” Blastoise sternly said.

“Of course, also, I’m sorry to report that Captain Azumarill and her team were ambushed and killed by some Electric Pokémon.” Starmie said in a quieter voice. “We searched the area, but the Electric Pokémon were gone when we arrived. They appeared to have retreated.”

“Have you heard from Major Slowking’s team? They were supposed to be in that area.” Blastoise asked in an irritated voice. Though this was war, he hated losing teams. In his head, losing teams meant he wasn't doing his job the way he was supposed.
“No Sir, we did not come across them.” Starmie said, not knowing how Baron would react.

“We need Colonel Lennox’s team now.” Blastoise grumbled, as he calmed himself down. “Assemble me a team; I’m going to meet them halfway. We’ve already lost too many soldiers for us to keep waiting; we need to end this as fast as we can.” He said as he stormed out of the bunker.

Gouts of water blasted overhead in high pressure torrents; sprays of dislodged earth flew high into the sky, and globs of mud rained down on two miserable figures, huddled against a wall in a narrow earthen trench. The Charmander and Torchic had been embroiled in this battle for days, and there was no sign that it would end anytime soon. To make things worse, a cold, stinging rain pelted them, occasionally being whipped into their faces by gusts ofwind.

Charmander sighed; once again, he scraped mud from his coarse skin. Shaking it off his claws, he watched Torchic try and shake itself clean, but its matted feathers were plastered to it with thick grime.

“Something had better happen soon,” Charmander said. “I don’t know how much more of this waiting I can take. I’d rather be on the front lines.”

They sat silently until a lull in the debris flying overhead gave them a brief respite; Charmander took a deep breath and peeked carefully over the eroded edge of the trench, surveying the battlefield.

Well to his left, he saw that fighting had degenerated to a melee; a Magmar traded blows with a Feraligatr, neither willing to give an inch. A Flareon and Vaporeon blasted at each other with gouts of fire and water, the two dissipating into steam halfway between them. Directly ahead, on the other side of a rocky pinnacle, he saw the enemy trenches; no part of the enemy was visible. Far away to his right, it looked like the fighting had finished, and unconscious or dead Pokemon of all sorts littered the ground.

A noise from ahead of him made him turn and look; atop the rocky spire, a Seadra and Horsea had blasted needle-thin jets of water directly at him. In a heartbeat, he realized he wouldn’t be able to dodge in time.

Everything around him slowed down; a stray thought crossed his mind, thinking of his beloved Charla back home getting a letter that would destroy her. He thought of his childhood, playing at the base of the volcano; watching his younger brothers hatch from eggs in the rookery.

He closed his eyes. Maybe dying wouldn’t be so bad; anything had to be better than this hellish war. He felt a sudden impact, and the sensation of falling sideways. It didn’t even really hurt like he thought it would have. It wasn’t until he felt the mud from the bottom of the trench squelching under his arm, and the sizzle of boiling water as his tail flame hit a puddle, that he realized he might not be dead.

Looking up, he saw a tall Arcanine leaning against the wall he’d been taking cover behind. Though its fur was dirty, and it had cuts and scrapes in several places, its eyes glittered with an inner fire.

“You should be careful, little one; those two could have killed you.” His deep voice was somehow both friendly and reprimanding, and as his brain slowly caught up to events, he realized this must be the General.

Leaping to his feet, he snapped a salute. “General Legend, Sir! Thank you for saving me!” Behind him, he also heard Torchic gasp in amazement and stand at attention. The holes where the water spouts had hit slowly dripped water to the trench floor.

“At ease, soldiers.” The Arcanine casually surveyed the section of trench. “This area can’t be used very well anymore, now that those snipers are keeping everyone pinned down; I’m going to take care of them. When you see my signal, charge forward and give it everything you have.”

The Charmander saluted him again. “Yes, sir!” he barked.

With a bound, the Arcanine leaped to the edge of the trench; his form blurred forward with incredible speed, darting side to side periodically to avoid the Pokemon’s attacks as he closed the gap to the spire within seconds. Sparks of static electricity flickered around his jaws and ruffs of fur, and with a prodigious leap, he cleared most of the spire’s height.

The Horsea and Seadra atop the spire panicked; their barrage of water blasts had failed to even touch the oncoming Arcanine, and now he menaced them directly. The Horsea dove off the side of the spire, tumbling to the base far below; the Seadra prepared to release another blast of water, but before it got the chance, the Arcanine sunk its thunder-charged fangs into the Seadra’s soft belly.

Howling in pain, its blast went wide; the Arcanine shook it side to side, then flung it down to the ground, where it lay in a limp heap. Standing alone atop the spire, he let out a terrible howl, striking fear into all the Water Pokemon within its range.

It also echoed to the heavens above; the steady downpour stopped, and the clouds began dissolving, allowing bright rays of sunlight to strike the battlefield.

Seeing their situation change so dramatically, the soldiers of the Fire Pokemon army charged from their trenches and bunkers; Arcanine leapt down from the spire, landing hard but staying upright. He led the charge to meet the enemy, coming head to head with a snarling Swampert.

It readied a blast of water or mud; Arcanine didn’t give it the chance, opening his jaws wide and blasting a thick beam of brilliant sunlight directly into his opponent. The heat instantly dried its slick skin, and it tumbled end over end, a severe burn covering most of its body. He didn’t give it a second glance, leaping to the nearest trench and pouring waves of fire into it.

The skies began to darken again; breaking off his fiery assault, leaving a pair of Lotad smouldering, he turned to look at the large Pokemon that had just arrived on the scene.

It was a long, serpentine Pokemon studded with white fins; its mouth gaped open as if emitting a perpetual scream, and its eyes blazed with anger. It whipped up a rainstorm in its passing and began launching barrages of water at all the combatants.

Arcanine knew this was bad; his only attack that would be effective required him to be at short range, and with the Gyrados flying well above the battlefield, backlit by flickers of lightning, he wasn’t going to have the chance to use it.

A few of the Fire Army Pokemon launched flaming assaults, but they were quickly quenched by the renewed downpour. In retaliation, the Gyrados blasted them with jets of water, sending them flying or knocking them prone.

Arcanine realized the significance of the lightning flickers just as he noticed a spiky figure atop the spire he’d recently vacated; another strike revealed it to be a bright yellow Jolteon. With a howl, it whipped up the electricity arcing through the clouds and redirected it to the flying Gyrados terrorizing the troops below; with roars and spasms of pain, it fell smoking to the ground below, striking with enough force to shake the earth.

Behind the Jolteon were arranged a handful of other Electric Pokemon; a stocky Raichu leapt for the trenches as a pale Flaafy stalked forward.

The Jolteon, with foe vanquished, leapt down and nimbly landed before Arcanine. “Good to see we made it in time, General Legend.”

Arcanine laughed. “Colonel Flinch! Your timing couldn’t be better. Thanks for the rescue. We’ll have to catch up afterward.” He warmly nudged the newcomer with a large paw, then the two of them turned and joined their armies in the near-rout of the water Pokemon.

“Where’s that team I ordered here?” Baron bellowed as he passed Major Emalin. Her body was glowing white as she passed by several Water and Ice type Pokémon. The wounds on their bodies slowly diminished. They weren’t ready to fight, but it wouldn’t be long before they were up and at it again. That’s what he liked about Emalin. She was a great healer, and she worked fast.

“Sir, they waiting for you at the lake’s edge.” Colonel Starmie nervously said as he recalled an incident similar to this that didn’t go too well. He knew Baron was not someone that should be messed with. He knew that every time Baron asked for something to be done, it had better get done as quickly as possible.

“Good, I want to get moving then.” Blastoise said in a much calmer voice. “I’m going to go get Colonel Lennox myself. Colonel, I want you to stay here and make sure everyone stays up to task. In my absence, nothing better go wrong. I am entrusting that you will follow through and do as asked.”

“You have my word Sir!” Starmie said, knowing he had just taken on a big task. Blastoise walked off towards the Lake. Starmie looked around and sighed as he headed towards the infirmary. He was going to gather another team together for when Baron came back.

~

Baron looked at the team that was gathered together. It was a small five man team, but that was all that would be needed. The five gathered were Floatzel, Kabutops, Lombre, Weavile, and Froslass. Baron did a quick inspection of them. He usually did these before going on something important because he didn’t want anything to get in his way, especially a team that was not well prepared. He walked over to the brown, insect looking Pokemon first and picked up one of its sickles. He ran his hand down it and nodded. It was sharp, but Baron felt that it could be sharper.

“Make sure these are sharper next time.” He said to the Kabutops. “You’ll get a cleaner cut.” He moved over to the Weavile and Floatzel and inspected them. Both Weavile and Floatzel had been battling against each other over who was going to get promoted in the ranks faster. Baron had considered moving them both up, but he felt they both were lacking something important. He nodded at Lombre and moved towards Froslass.

“I made sure you were on the team because there is something I need you to do later on.” He whispered into the Froslass’ ear. She nodded and did not say a word.

“Alright, let’s move out, we should catch up to them and being a counter assault against the Fire and Electric types.” Baron roared as he charged into the forest, his group following close behind.

Kabutops charged in front of the group, cutting through the thick, green vegetation and making a path for them to walk through. Baron didn’t notice at first, but they were leaving a trail.

“Stop!” He whispered in an angry voice. He pointed back at the trail they were leaving. “We are leaving a trail. Do you want them to follow us? Do you want them to sneak up on us and ambush us?” Kabutops nodded and let his two blades hang down on his sides as he continued forward.

“This is why certain teams get captured or killed, they don’t think about things like this.” He grumbled as he continued walking. “They shouldn’t be too far ahead. We’ll make a quick stop to make sure Captain Taxin and Lieutenant Venon are still in play.” About fifteen minutes later, they came across a large murky swamp, about a mile and a half to two miles wide.

Floatzel looked at the lake and moved forward. Baron stuck his large, powerful hand in front of the Floatzel, pushing him back a bit. “There is another thing you are doing wrong. You never walk into unknown territory without some knowledge of what’s in the area. That’s another way to get yourself seriously hurt or killed.” Baron could see from the corner of his eye the huge grin Weavile had on his face. “Wipe it off.” He grumbled as one of his cannons emerged from his hard shell. He aimed it a couple of yards in front of him and shot a small blast of water at the ground. The area that was shot at quickly exploded sending mud mixed with poison flying all over the place. Baron blasted it away with his cannon.

“This place is well guarded by those two.” He grinned. “They have mud bomb mines all around. They have a sticky substance that quickly dries and keeps you glued there for a few moments and pitfall traps that instantly bury you in poisonous mud after you go through. Many don’t even get out.” He retracted his cannon and took in a deep breath as released a beam of ice towards the center of the swamp. A minute passed by, then the ground began to rumble as two figures emerged from the ground.

A dark blue and brown frog with bright yellow snake-like pupils croaked loudly as his red vocal sack expanded. A smaller version of it without the large red sack was next to him. The Toxicroak and Crogunk saluted with their right hands.

“Captain Taxin, Lieutenant Venon, good to see you’re still functioning.” Baron grinned.

“You know nothing can get by us,” Captain Taxin said, grinning back.

“Those defenses you showed them aren’t the only ones we have.” Lieutenant Venon said, as he lowered his head, giving a sinister look with his bright yellow eyes. “Anyone who comes into this place won’t last long. You should be careful coming in here.” He said to Floatzel. Floatzel gave a slight nod as he looked at Weavile who was grinning again.

“That’s why they have me here.” Baron said, “We should be commencing an attack within a couple of hours. We need a couple of your team to meet back at base.”

“I thought you would, I sent three Whiscash, four Swampert, and three Quagsire your way not too long ago. They are traveling though an underground stream though so wouldn’t have seen them.”

“You continue to amaze me. We’ve got to meet up with another group ahead, stay alert.” Baron said, and with that he turned around and went back the way they came. Captain Taxin and Lieutenant Venon dug back underground and receded back to the swamp.

“Shouldn’t we have seen them by now? It’s been about an hour since we left the swamp.” Weavile asked as the forest darkened due to the number of trees. “There has to be a tree every fifteen to twenty feet.”

Baron nodded as he looked around. He saw a fast moving orange object dart quickly behind a tree.

“THEY’RE AROUND US!”Baron yelled out loud as he attempted to count how many there were. He counted at least ten. He knew they were outnumbered, but not out powered. From the corner of his right eye, he say the orange blur again as it charged towards them.
“THERE!” He yelled again, pulling out his cannon at a speed that couldn’t be followed. He blasted a jet of water at it, sending it slamming back into a tree. Kabutops shot forward and jabbed his two scythes into the Typhlosion, slicing up as the blood and insides gushed out.

He saw another blur. This time it was blue and yellow. It was headed straight for Floatzel. He knew it was an Electric Pokémon, which means they were being ambushed by both Fire and Electric types.

“BEHIND YOU!” He called out to Floatzel, but he knew he was too late. He could see that it was a Luxray. He could see the razor sharp fangs and the electrical energy coming out of them seconds away from the weasel Pokémon. Right as the Luxray reached Floatzel, Weavile slammed his right claw hard on its head, and with a quick swift movement, stuck his left claw straight into its head. He tossed the body to aside and quickly shook the blood off of his hand before extending it to help Floatzel up.

Floatzel saw an Infernape jumping down towards them from a tree that was above them. As the Infernape launched a Flamethrower attack, Floatzel grabbed Weaviles claw and used it to give him and extra boost as he used Aqua Jet, which knocked away the flames and slammed hard into Infernape. Floatzel landed next to Weavile. Weavile grinned and shook his head as they turned and stood back to back, defending one another.

Baron grabbed the head of a Blaziken as it tried to hit him with a Thunder Punch. He quickly snapped the neck and looked over to the Electivire. The Electivire shot a Thunderbolt at Baron as he jumped into the air, aiming his large cannon at the Electric Pokémon. He shot it and took down an Electivire. The high pressure him his cannons to push its head into the ground. He shot once more to make sure it was dead. The Electivire’s face was pushed in and its skull was crushed. He looked around for more targets to take out. Right as he turned, he saw a Ponyta push a hoof right through Lombre’s chest, as it launched a Flamethrower into the open gash.

He was about to charge at the Ponyta when a bright green flash blinded him. When his eyes focused, he still saw the Ponyta standing there, but it didn’t move. Then he saw the blood gushing out of its sides as its head fell off its flaming body. He saw several figures come down from the sky.

Two Pokémon jumped off a large Tropius’, as it body slammed down hard on a Typhlosion. A Tangrowth wrapped its vine all around a Luxray and Raichu, strangling them to death. Cacturne and Breloom took out the Charmeleon by jamming needles into its chest. Even though it was going to die from the poison, the Cacturne finished it off by slamming its sharp needle arm down onto its chest multiple times.

A green grass Pokémon landed before him. The grass Pokémon knelt down on one knee as he lowered his head. The two leaf blades on his arm were dripping with blood.

“I am deeply sorry we didn’t make it in time.” He said as he looked up at Baron and back at the dead Lombre. He rose back to his feet. Baron didn’t say anything. He was enraged, but he knew better than to let it get the best of him on a battlefield. No one said anything because they knew how angry he was at this moment. They had just lost a comrade in the ambush which was something that Baron felt he could’ve prevented.

“Can you get Tropius to fly him back to base; I want him to be buried with the rest.” Baron said. Grovyle nodded. Lombre’s body was wrapped up in vines and leaves and placed onto the back of the large Sauropoda-looking Pokémon as it flew off back to the base camp. “It’s good to see you Captain Lennox.”

High above a forest, a pair of figures struggled to fly through a torrential, icy downpour that had charged out of a cloudless blue sky only hours before. The figures were large and dissimilar; one looked like a giant green clamshell trailing tentacles, and the other was a saurian figure with green leaves around its long neck, flapping steadily to propel it forward.

Barely distinguishable through the rain was a third, smaller figure, perched on the back of the quadrupedal Tropius. It was blue, and bipedal, with a protruding jaw and red fins along its spine. This unlikely figure was the leader of the scouting trio; it was rare for an un-evolved Totodile to make it beyond the front lines.

Cursing bitterly at the chill creeping through his scaled hide, he gestured for the pair of fliers to descend toward the forest below. While he liked a bit of rain, this was the most unpleasant deluge he'd ever been in; he clutched tightly to the fronds below him, trying not to slide off the slick back.

Had he not turned his head to sneeze water out of his large nostrils, he would not have even noticed the curious sight that greeted him; a bright yellow Jolteon, fur standing erect despite the rain, stared at him from atop a tree below.

In the time it took him to process the sight, the Jolteon had already launched his attack. A bolt of lightning hurtled through the figures, catching all three in the blast; agony seared through the water Pokemon's nerves. His muscles spasmed, and clenched harder on the leaves; it was all that saved him from plummeting to his doom.

It didn't save his mount, however. They hurtled to the ground below, the unconscious grass Pokemon impacting the soft mud; the result was that the Totodile was dazed, with the wind knocked out of him, but fully aware of the fire Pokemon now ringing them.

The rain was already slackening; a Camerupt near the back of the group seemed to be focusing on bringing the sun back out. The Totodile blinked twice, trying not to move, hoping they wouldn't notice he was still conscious.

His ploy worked for the moment. A Vulpix, cleaning the mud from its dainty paws, suggested that they make sure all were dead; a tall Magmar countered that prisoners could be traded for their own allies, languishing in cells and dungeons.

Totodile knew that he'd only have one chance to strike at his hated enemies, but that he would catch them unawares. He quietly took in a deep breath, filling his diaphragm to release a powerful blast of water.

Springing to his clawed feet, he let loose the torrent at the nearby Camerupt. Hitting it square, the Hydro Pump attack blasted it through several nearby trees. Splinters, fur, and shards of rock flew in every direction; knowing its weakness, it was likely a fatal blast.

All the fire Pokemon stared aghast at the now-limp form; Totodile dared hope that he would make it out alive. Swelling his chest again, he sprayed a less potent stream out, scything it across the standing ranks. They scattered in disarray before the onslaught, and he turned and dashed heedlessly for a full two feet before crashing into something with a resounding thud.

He fell to his side; shaking his head to clear the stars he saw, he realized a tall Arcanine was what he'd run into. Before he'd had a chance to unleash another attack, it slammed into him with blinding speed, crushing him against the bole of a nearby tree.

He felt his bones breaking; sharp pains in his gut told him that he was bleeding internally. The Arcanine released his pressure, and he slumped to the ground. Reaching for his reserves of strength, he realized he was entirely spent, and could do nothing as he watched the Arcanine hurl his body into the air towards him.

His last thought, before the life was crushed from him, was that the Take Down was performed with beautiful form.

---

"We're two days into our mission and already lost one. Y'all better shape up, real quick, or we're doomed to failure; and I've never liked that taste. Let's move on, folks."

The shaggy Arcanine turned and stalked deeper into the forest; silently, the remaining figures followed, with Jolteon bringing up the rear. As much as Legend liked having Flinch along, it was clear he still didn't feel comfortable as part of a team; he'd always been a bit of a loner.

As Legend walked, it thought about the battle they'd just escaped. That Totodile had been spunky; he almost regretted having to kill him, but there was a war on, after all. If only he'd been born a Cyndaquil.

'As long as I'm wishing for impossible things, I may as well wish this blasted war were over,' he thought to himself. 'We're all moments away from death without realizing it; the least I could do was make his quick, and hope that mine will be too.'

Sudden rustling from ahead shook him from his reverie; looking about, he spotted nothing unusual, but the ruff around his neck began to bristle. Turning to tell the others to be alert, he saw they already looked to the sides; of Flinch, the only sign was a small pile of dirt where he'd burrowed underground.

Turning back forward, he saw just in time a tall Exeggutor step from behind a tree. With a shake of its fronds, a hail of small, round eggs launched at the group, exploding when they struck the ground, the foliage, or one of Legend's team.

Leaping into action, he released a wave of superheated flames that washed over the tree-like Pokemon. With a wail, it collapsed to the ground, spilling more of the explosive seeds.

As they rolled towards a Bulbasaur who was launching razor-sharp leaves, the Arcanine was struck with an idea; using a wave of flames, he continued their roll with added force, and the seeds exploded just as they got close to the grass Pokemon. It staggered to its side, collapsing, and its eyes closed; at the very least it was unconscious.

As they continued the fight, Legend realized that it wasn't going nearly so well for most of his teammates; the Magmar was locked in a wrestling match with a Sceptyle, with a nearby Hoppip covering it with spores of cotton. As it fanned its own flames to help, a Lotad dropped out of a tree, dousing it with a spray of water.

Their situation was dire. "Everyone, retreat! Fall back to the agreed spot!" Legend said. Helping where he could, all of them save the Vulpix faded into the trees; the small fox Pokemon had been slashed to bloody ribbons by the sharp leaves.

After several minutes where the sounds of combat diminished as they moved farther and farther away, the Jolteon burrowed out of the earth, shaking the dirt from its fur; quietly, it padded forward, the ruse having distracted the normal forest guardians away from their assigned positions.

“Soon.” A black star-shaped Water Pokémon whispered, angrily placing small seed bombs into a small bag. His voice was filled with hatred and anger. He had just heard the devastating news of one of his closest comrades’ squad. None of them had returned. It was now thirty-four hours past the time they were supposed to return. They were presumed dead. They were on a recon mission near the mountain side, gathering any information they could on that area. He knew recon missions were extremely dangerous, and that the chances of them getting captured to killed was very high. His squad was being sent to track and find out what happened to them.

“S.O.C Deathstrike, you and your team ready to go?” Colonel Starmie asked the Staryu. He had been doing well keeping things in order at the base. He had too if he wanted to remain a Colonel. He knew Baron was returning and was trying to finish everything up before he arrived.

“All set.” Deathstrike mumbled. Deathstrike had always put his team and friends before him; he never did anything that would compromise the mission. That was one thing he was good at. His tactics and logic always got his team out of the situations they had been in the past, but that was when he was completely focused. He knew he wasn’t totally focused which meant he wasn’t fit to lead.

“Thrust, front and center.” Deathstrike called out. A small orange weasel quickly moved to the front and stood in front of Deathstrike. The Buizel didn’t look tough, but it could sure pack a punch.

“Sir, yes Sir?” He said, saluting. Even though it was not required, Thrust had always saluted to Deathstrike whenever he passed by or said something. It was his way of showing respect. Deathstrike had already told him countless amounts of time that it was not necessary to salute to him, but he did so anyways. Deathstrike had taken a liking to Thrust, not only for that reason, but because of he saw a bit of himself in Thrust. Thrust had always preformed the best out of the rest when he drilled them in scenarios. It was his quick thinking and amazing aim that made Thrust get picked to be on the special ops team.

“You’re leading this mission today.” Deathstrike said.

“Understood Sir.” Thrust said nodding. That was another thing Deathstrike liked about him, he always did what he was told without question.

“Round ‘em up and lead us out.” Deathstrike said. Thrust made his way swiftly towards the front of the small group of four and began to speak. The team consisted of Deathstrike who was the leader. Thrust, who many saw as Deathstrike’s second in command, although he never said it. His accuracy was almost as good as Deathstrike’s and unmatched by anyone else on the team. Then there was a Kabutops and Breloom who both skilled in combat fighting. There was a Vileplume who was skilled in arming and disarming different kinds of traps, and in healing and creating potions. Last was a Swampert who was the powerhouse of the team. He proved to have the most endurance of them all in their last practice drill.

Deathstrike had been in charge of his Special Operations Unit for quite some time now. Before taking charge, he was part of Baron’s team before Baron became General. They had been through a lot together, which is why Baron trusted him with the Special Operations Unit.

“Alright, let’s move out.” Thrust called out, and the six of them left the camp. They swiftly moved through the forest, but also keeping an eye out for any movement around them. They were in enemy territory now so they had to keep their guard up. If they let it down even for a second it could be the end of them.

“Kabutops, you and Breloom scout ahead.” Thrust whispered. “Move through the trees.” They both nodded and jumped up high and latched on to a tree, then jumping to the next one and so forth until they were near the top, then they carried on forward. “We’ll continue though the ground.”

Everything appeared to be quiet in the forest; they walked for another thirty minutes without anything happen. Then suddenly, they encountered a small scout patrol. It consisted of two Combusken, a Elekid, and a Charmeleon.

Kabutops had spotted them about a half mile up from the tree he was in. The team took their positions and waited for the scout patrol to come within range to ambush them. They waited about five minutes before the patrol passed Kabutops and Breloom. Breloom and Kabutops moved behind them, and took out one of the Combusken with a slash to the throat and a couple of jabs in the chest. The Elekid jumped towards Kabutops, sending a small but powerful burst of electricity towards the prehistoric Shellfish Pokemon. That’s when Swampert from behind the tree he was hiding and took the blast head on. Unfazed by the move, Swampert quickly grabbed the Elekids’ head and slammed it into the ground, then burying it in with a Hydro Pump attack. The Combusken and Charmeleon both slammed into the Swampert, sending him flying back. Before they could do anything else, Thrust shot out towards the Combusken and slammed into its stomach with a strong Aqua Jet attack, quickly taking it out. All that was left now was the Charmeleon. Kabutops and Breloom were about to strike when Deathstrike stopped them.

“Wait.” He said. “We need to check to see if he knows anything.” Deathstrike approached the Charmeleon who was being held down by Thrust. “Within the last forty-eight hours, did anyone from your side capture a team with a Politoed?” The Charmeleon just grinned and spat a small Flamethrower attack which hit Deathstrike in his gem. He was unmoved by it; the attack just made him angrier.

“Alright then.” Thrust said, turning towards Vileplume. “Do your magic.” Vileplume nodded, pulling out a small vile and forcing it down Charmeleon’s throat. Charmeleon began thrashing on the floor violently. He hissed and growled screaming in excruciating pain.

“Okay, now we’re going to ask you again.” Thrust said. “Did a team with a Politoed get captured within the last forty-eight hours?”

“N-n-yes. Yes and no.” He cried out. The liquid Vileplume forced down his throat was an extremely powerful poison that caused pained beyond belief. They made him feel as if his insides were on fire. “They were scheduled for execution later on tonight, but somehow, they escaped.”

“Alright, give me the cure and a sedative.” Thrust said to Vileplume, “We may need more info later.” Vileplume nodded and brought out two small bottles from her bag and tossed it to Thrust. He placed a little bit of both in the Charmeleon’s mouth.

“If they escaped, where are they?” Kabutops said after he saw that the Charmeleon was knocked out. “Should we continue forward?”

“No, there will be more of these scout troops up ahead, we can’t go on.” Thrust said. Deathstrike knew he was right, but he felt that he had to go find them. However, he knew where he was needed the most. All he could do was hope that they would make their way back to the base. “Let’s head on back.”