Lantana
Pokemon Center
Emile
Emile felt his stomach twist itself into a knot as he walked down the stairs. It had been an hour since he'd trained with Vito, and although it was light, it'd been a rather fun distraction.
Now, however, his mind was focused on the raid. Night had fallen on Lantana and the final meeting, which he intended on arriving at before the rest of his squadmates, was soon to be underway.
The thought of the raid sent chills down his spine. Emile hadn't led many teams; in fact, he preferred to be following orders rather than giving them, especially in dire situations like this. Plus, while the League trainers would follow his orders, he hadn't earned their respect like Major Russo had.
He sighed as he turned a corner and continued walking down the hallway. Emile didn't exactly blame them for that mindset. If he were in their shoes, perhaps he would feel the same way.
As he entered the lobby, Emile smiled softly as he saw that the only people who were currently present were Giuseppe, Major Russo, and a few League trainers who were attached to Russo's and Giuseppe's squads, all of whom were overlooking the holographic map.
"I take it I'm early?" Emile called out.
"You are," Giuseppe replied, still gazing at the map. "Going over the area, you won't have to deal with much as you'll be behind Gladio, but Russo and I are expecting heavy resistance."
"Yes, and I was just reminded of something…" Russo raised his head and turned to Emile with narrowed eyes. "Mr. Hawthorne, may I speak to you privately?"
Giuseppe glanced at Russo with a raised brow, then at Emile.
"Of course," Emile replied.
This was a little confusing. Was there something Emile needed to know about, or was this about his outrage over the snag machines? Regardless, it didn't exactly ease his nervousness.
Russo stepped away from the table and approached Emile, the two walking several steps away from everyone.
"I heard you did a rather ballsy thing, kid." Russo clapped the retired trainer on the shoulder. "Charging in headfirst through Skuntank gas when you heard that pretty nurse scream," he continued.
Emile raised his brow, his eyes briefly widening. He hadn't expected the Major to come out with this.
"It was…"
"It was stupid," Russo spat, and his grip on Emile's shoulder became increasingly tight. "I have zero idea why Giuseppe wants you to lead my men. I don't care if your experience in Sinnoh and against these clowns is that Arceus-damned valuable; I will not allow your recklessness to endanger my men."
Emile swallowed hard. Not once had he thought about the risks when running into the gas; as soon as he had heard Lucrezia's scream, his only instinct had been to charge headfirst.
"Do we have an understanding, Mr. Hawthorne?" Russo asked. "Because let it be known that after this conversation, if anything happens to my men…" His eyes narrowed and his voice went cold. "I will make certain you suffer a fate worse than whatever Hell exists."
Emile slowly nodded. "I… understand."
"Good!" Russo smiled as he released his grip from Emile's shoulder. "Now that's being said, it appears that everyone's slowly coming down… so let's go over everything one last time."
Emile turned and saw various League Trainers either coming from down the stairs or from the doors that led outside. Along with them was Vito, who smiled as soon as he saw his mentor.
Russo walked back towards the table, with Emile after following him.
"Alright… so let's go over the plan once more," Russo started. "Team Armarouge, Team Steelix… we're both the heavy hitters of this operation. Armarouge, we'll be taking the left buildings. Steelix, you'll take right."
"Both teams will consist of six men each, and we'll clear the buildings out before going in on Gladio," Giuseppe continued. "While this is going on, Team Xatu will be in charge of keeping communications up and informing us of enemy intel. Team Skarmory will have eyes on the citizens and…"
"And Team Lucario will be preventing the enemy from fleeing," Emile finished as he walked towards the holographic map. "The Worker's District is near the Vineyards, so we'll be sneaking through the trees next to them as we approach Aldo's suspected location. As of right now, this is the only decent escape route they have, as any other routes will lead into the nearby river or Bellissimo Mare."
"And the rivers are being patrolled by Rangers, who are now on the lookout for anyone or anything connected with Aldo's Mob." Major Russo smiled. "Along with that, Armando Bruno will be sending reinforcements to Lantana just in case, though I don't believe they're necessary."
"Everyone knows their stations," Giuseppe spoke. "Let's do this clean and come out safe."
Emile left the table, deep in thought. He had six men on his squad… six human lives, along with their Pokemon and his own were in his hands.
"Alright. Let's do this…" he whispered to himself.
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Lantana
Worker's District
Giuseppe
The Worker's District was quiet tonight, Giuseppe thought as he and the rest of his team moved alongside Team Armarouge. Of course, the district was always quiet, but tonight was different. There was a chill in the air, which didn't help the old soldier's nerves.
There were six men on Team Steelix, with Giuseppe leading them while a young yet seasoned trainer named Ferrari acted as his second-in-command. The men on Team Steelix were experienced, but this was their first actual conflict with anything resembling the Enotrian Military.
He didn't know why things felt so different. Was it perhaps because his old home was going to be turned into a warzone? Or was it due to the fact that he was going to go against someone who he had once called an old friend?
"Major," a trainer from Armarouge whispered to Major Russo. "Here you go."
The trainer handed his superior a megaphone before quietly falling back in line with the rest of his team.
"Hold," Russo said as he stepped forward, raising the megaphone up to his face. A loud high pitched noise briefly emitted from the device, and then the Major started to speak.
"Aldo De Luca!" the Major shouted into the megaphone. "By order of The Pokemon League, you and your men are under arrest! Come out with your hands up, or we will come to you!"
There was no response. Nobody came out of the four run-down buildings, nor did anyone come out of Il Club Gladio.
"Teams," Russo ordered, "prepare to engage."
Giuseppe called out his Meowstic, the blue feline standing tall as he appeared and questioningly glancing towards his trainer.
Giuseppe only nodded.
"Barriers, all of you," the old man commanded his men as they released two of their Pokemon, a steel type and a psychic type respectively.
The psychic types projected various barriers that covered themselves and their trainers, and they slowly moved toward the buildings on the right. The first building in sight was a drug store, with a piece of cardboard stuck to the top with the business' name.
Giuseppe looked towards Ferrari and the rest of his team, nodded his head, and looked back at his Meowstic.
The psychic feline raised his paw, and a quiet voice entered his elderly trainer's mind.
"O n e."
Giuseppe raised a brow, then repeated Meowstic's message to the rest of his team.
"Could be a full team of dark types…" Ferrari whispered.
"I'll lead two through the front while you and the others go through the back," Giuseppe suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Ferrari said as he turned around and pointed at two of his men, the three of them moving to circle around the drug store.
Something felt wrong. Why was there only one person in the building? Were Aldo's men skilled enough to hold off several League Trainers? Giuseppe pondered. It was possible that was the case, but at the same time, a novice trainer had dispatched two of their men with only a Pikachu and a Psyduck.
What on Earth was Aldo planning?
" y," Meowstic whispered into his trainer's mind. " e."
No other men had arrived, no other men were trying to leave the building.
"Let's do it." Giuseppe sighed as he started to move towards the building, pushing down the wave of unease that threatened to rise up inside him as he waved for his men to follow him.
Psychic energy enveloped the door in front of him and it snapped off with a satisfying crunch, leaving a large hole where the door once stood, revealing the interior of a small store. Dozens of shelves that were lined up with prescription drugs for both man and Pokemon, and there in the front was a man and a Murkrow tensing behind the counter
"We're with The League, surrender!" Giuseppe shouted as he charged forward.
"Get 'em!" the clerk yelled as he pointed at Giuseppe and his men.
Meowstic's eyes began to glow pink, outstretching his paw before the barrier that had enveloped Giuseppe and Meowstic reappeared, the Murkrow bouncing off of it and crashing onto the floor as the wall behind the clerk suddenly ripped apart, Ferrari stepped through with two League trainers by his side and a Kadabra.
The Kadabra didn't take another step forward, instead holding up his spoons and pressing them together in the form of an X, summoning a dazzling light so bright it blinded everyone in the room all the while the spoons emitted a loud ringing sound.
The barriers everyone had established prior dulled most of the effects, but Giuseppe could still hear a terrible ringing in his ears. He had to squint in order to see, but he saw Murkrow fall down unconscious while the clerk had moved towards a corner, curled up into a ball with his hands over his ears.
The light finally stopped and after looking around, Giuseppe saw that they were clear. The rest of the men began to move through the store, throwing down shelves and scanning the area for anything out of the ordinary.
"Where is Aldo?" the old man calmly asked as he stepped towards the clerk.
"Fuck you, pig!" the man spat before spitting on Giuseppe's face.
The elderly man grabbed the clerk by his shirt collar and forced him to stand upright, before slamming him against the wall.
"I will ask you again," Giuseppe repeated, his voice even but stern. "Where is Aldo? If you do not tell me, then so help me you will remember why I was called the Gravedigger."
"Armani!" Ferrari shouted. "I found something!"
Giuseppe turned his head towards his second. "What is it?"
"It's a manhole… I think it leads to some sort of a tunnel, but my Kadabra doesn't know where it leads to. It's coated with lead, and there's a lot of dark type energy," Ferrari told him.
Giuseppe released the clerk and watched as psychic energy covered his entire body and sent him flying against the wall, instantly knocking him unconscious. The elderly man sent a smile towards his Meowstic before moving towards Ferrari.
A tunnel made sense… things were starting to fall into place. They must have been using these tunnels to navigate somewhere.
"Where do you think it goes?" Ferrari asked.
"More than likely their base of operations," Giuseppe commented as he kneeled down to inspect the manhole, which while not too large or wide, was bigger than what most sewer systems had. "More importantly, though… I know what Aldo's plan is, and if we go in, we're going to be greeted with a world of trouble."
"What do you mean?"
"During the war, we made tunnels almost like this. They were made by dark type specialists, and soldiers could perform hit and run attacks against Kantoan and Unovan forces. They were pretty effective for a while, until Giovanni and Flint started to outright collapse them," Giuseppe explained.
"Shit… so, what do we do? Collapse it?" Ferrari asked.
"They know we won't do that, we're in the business of taking them alive; besides, these tunnels are our only way to the enemy stronghold." Giuseppe shook his head. "No, the only way to find out is by going into the Pyroar's den," he continued as he looked at his Meowstic.
The psychic type nodded his head and closed his eyes. It wasn't before long until Giuseppe began to hear Major Russo's voice in his head, courtesy of both Meowstic and the Major's Armarouge.
"What is it, Armani?" Russo asked.
"Are you seeing the tunnels?" Giuseppe asked.
"Looking at one right now. Why?"
"Because I'm sure it leads to the enemy's base of operations, and Aldo's more than likely filled this thing up with traps," Giuseppe replied.
"That's what I was thinking… I'm also sure there are more of these tunnels. Operatives must go in and out, either to smuggle something or to meet up with each other," Russo theorized.
"How do we wanna play this, Major?" Giuseppe inquired. "These are your men."
"We'll split up into smaller teams. You and I will go down the tunnels we're standing over, while the men will clear out the rest of the buildings," the Major decided. "If they're anything like these, they're bound to have a single man or two keeping watch. Be careful while you're in there, old man. Once we go inside, our psychics won't be able to let us communicate."
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
"Of course. I'm aware," Giuseppe replied as he turned his head towards Ferrari. "Ferrari, Major Russo is going to be entering another tunnel, and I'll be entering this one with the men I have. You take the other two and continue going through the rest of the buildings, collect evidence, and arrest any hostiles."
Ferrari gritted his teeth, but soon nodded his head.
"You two, with me!" the trainer shouted at his subordinates, who immediately followed his orders and started to follow Ferrari outside the building.
Giuseppe was left with only two men at his command, the both of them staring at each other, and the old man could see their hands quivering and shaking.
These poor boys knew damn well that if they entered, there was a good chance they wouldn't come back out.
"Listen," Giuseppe softly said. "You stay by my side and listen to my orders, and I swear to Lupa that we'll get through this in one piece. You two are Fossi and Mancini correct?"
"Y-yessir," stammered Fossi.
"I swear on the grave of my Houndoom, we will get through this," Giuseppe firmly told them. "I shall enter the tunnel first, you will follow me after. If I die as I enter this tunnel, I want you to go back up and reunite with Ferrari."
Both trainers nodded, and Giuseppe looked at the tunnel again before slowly placing his foot against a ladder rung.
He whispered a prayer to himself before going further down.
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Lantana
Tunnels(?)
Major Russo
Major Russo scowled as he dropped down the manhole. The only light that came from this tunnel was from above, and when he peered forward, all he saw was darkness. The tunnel itself was supposedly coated with lead and made from various metals, but Russo couldn't taste anything, smell anything, or feel any warmth.
He looked beside him and saw Armarouge shiver underneath the manhole's light. It was clear that the psychic type was uncomfortable, and how could he not be? This tunnel was full of dark type energy, which left anything and everything that wasn't dark blind.
But, there were ways around this.
"It's clear!" Russo shouted up.
Trainers Monaco and Grimaldi soon came down, with Monaco's Beheeyem floating down beside him. As soon as they dropped to the floor, Grimaldi's Kadabra teleported down.
The trainers were shocked as their entire world changed, their psychic types also shuddering and looking around. They were all aware that the tunnel was coated with dark type energy, but they didn't know how it was done.
Now they did.
"Arceus…" Monaco muttered under his breath. "How the hell did they make something like this?"
"The craftsmanship is almost impeccable… Azura would love to see this," Grimaldi spoke up as he slowly walked, before his eyes widened in surprise as he stepped into the night. His own footsteps couldn't be heard!
"Amazing… these tunnels couldn't have been made recently. They had to have been made during the Rocket-Legione War, maybe even earlier," he said.
"And according to intel, Aldo De Luca was a dark type specialist…" Russo commented. "It wouldn't have surprised me if he was the one who helped design these tunnels."
There had to be some way to navigate through these tunnels. Most attacks would be useless here, but the tunnel wasn't perfect. The light above allowed them to see only a little bit, and if that was the case then something could be improvised.
"Return," Russo commanded his Armarouge as he returned the psychic type into his Pokeball, then took another one off of his belt.
"You got an idea, boss?" Monaco asked.
"Look above real quick," Russo replied as he soon called out his Lucario.
The steel type's eyes widened, then narrowed as he gazed at his surroundings. His once red eyes were gold, and he had outstretched his arm.
Meanwhile, Grimaldi and Monaco had looked towards the manhole, and both men smiled.
There were very few ways to truly fight back in this scenario. The best way was to have a dark type of your own navigate through the area; their attacks would be silent and with any luck, their strength would be empowered by the dark type energy.
Of course, Russo and his squad didn't have any dark types. So, there were two other ways. The first was to have a fighting type, specifically one like Lucario who could use their aura to see through the darkness, and the second way…
"Use Miracle Eye!" Both Grimaldi and Monaco ordered their Pokemon.
Russo smiled. They understood that the best way was for their Pokemon to use Miracle Eye, as by opening the mind's eye, they would be capable to see through the darkness and fight in it, though their offensive capabilities would be weakened due to their surroundings.
"Lucario will focus on fighting the enemy. You two, hang back and provide support. I don't think the rest of your team, nor mine, will be able to handle all of this shit," Russo ordered his men, then looked to his Lucario. "You, Beheeyem, and Kadabra will be our eyes. We'll go slowly though, Arceus knows what the hell is here…"
Lucario nodded, and slowly, the group began to walk through the tunnel.
Russo could feel a trickle of sweat drip down his forehead, and his heart pounded like a drum beneath his chest. He was unable to hear the footsteps of him and those under his command, and it took everything he had not to call out to them, to make sure they were still here. He didn't want to alert the enemy to the sound of his voice.
It was then he felt a gust blow past him, and as Russo realized that Lucario ran to his side he heard a loud scream come from his right, mixed with the sound of metal tearing through bone.
Grimaldi was dead.
Something was attacking Russo and his men, and it was doing so silently.
"They're trying to pick us off!" he shouted.
The Major whispered a silent prayer as he prepared for a fight. He could only hope that the rest of the teams were doing much better than he was.
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Lantana
Il Club Gladio
Emile
Emile, Frère, and Belle crouched down alongside the rest of Team Lucario. Their eyes all met the back of Il Club Gladio, which was a little smaller than the trainer had expected, but was perfectly fit to be a boxing club. The entire squad was hidden within the night, concealed by the dense forestry.
Personally though, if it were up to Emile, the team would have been behind Aldo's home rather than his club, but there was a very good chance that Aldo would be here running things. The club was in his name after all.
"So… I should have asked this earlier," Emile whispered to his second-in-command, a man around his age named Santoro. "But what are the chances of these guys having guns? I'd prefer to not experience the Protection War."
"Very unlikely," Santoro scoffed. "There's only one firearms manufacturer still present in Enotria, and it's heavily guarded by the League. It would be preposterous for these clowns to have guns… but I wouldn't recommend going any further."
"And why is that?" Emile asked as he inspected the grass leading to the building's rear, raising his brow as he noticed the dozens of tiny, thin black rods sticking up. "What are those…? Are they Pokemon?"
"No, they're mines." Santoro replied. "They're common, most of the time things like these are used for mining operations… but they can be refitted for numerous purposes," he continued as he looked at his Alakazam.
"That makes sense… but why are there so many man-made weapons?" Emile questioned. "I know it's not the time for a history lesson, but this is your region. I'm a Magikarp out of water here."
"Because," Emile's second-in-command sighed. "Back during the Dissian era, Pokemon were seen as monsters and everyone wanted to kill each other, hence weapons were made to be used against people and Pokemon."
"I can't feel the mines," Belle suddenly informed him. "I think they're clouded with dark type energy, much like the gas used by the escaping Legionnaires."
Damn. This would take a lot longer than he expected. The best thing to do was to either find a path around the mines, or disarm them… but both were time consuming, and Emile wasn't certain there was a position that would be as advantageous as this one, and he intended to keep those under his command alive.
"My Alakazam could disarm them, but… some of them are gas mines," Santoro whispered. "It'll be a little harder to disarm them and make sure the gas doesn't affect us."
"Gas mines, huh?" Emile murmured to himself, then smiled as an idea crept into his mind. The trainer reached for his belt and grabbed a Pokeball off of it. "I got an idea, give me some room."
Santoro looked at the rest of the men and nodded, and slowly, they began to move away from Emile.
Emile tossed his Pokeball lightly into the air, calling out Venus. The Venusaur shook her head and moved her body around, getting comfortable from having been in a Pokeball for a while.
"I need your help, girl…" Emile whispered to the grass type, then pointed at the mines. "I need you to disable those for me, but be careful."
Venus nodded and released her vines, then pushed them into the ground below.
A few poachers in Sinnoh had used gas attacks, and Emile had quickly grown experienced in dealing with them. Most man-made gas devices were full of poisons from the land itself or from Pokemon, all of which could be absorbed by a poison type without suffering any repercussions.
Which is exactly what Venus intended to do. She would make contact with the mines and begin to absorb the poison inside of them, rendering them all completely useless.
"Alakazam, inform Venus what mines contain gas while you work on disabling the explosives," Santoro commanded, then turned to Emile. "Not a bad plan."
"It's not, but it's still time consuming… I hate to ask, but don't your men have any other psychic types?" Emile asked.
"No," Santoro replied with a frown. "The Alakazam line are rarities in the region, and Espurr are quite skittish… so they're hard to find, and Beldum take a while to properly train. Most of our psychic types consist primarily of Slowbro."
"Alright, then I guess we'll be waiting here for a while," Emile sighed.
"And you can answer a question," Belle commented.
Emile raised his brow as he turned towards Belle.
"What happened during your conversation with Goyl? And why is there a bruise on your head?" she asked as she then poked her trainer's forehead.
"Goyl made his choice," Emile shrugged. "And it was uh… very aggressive."
Belle's eyes widened, before she looked at her trainer's belt and then back up at his face.
"He did that to you?" the Gardevoir screamed.
"Oh come on, it was worse when he was a Gabite," Emile sighed. "It's a bruise, it's not like he gnawed my arm off."
"Murkrows, up high!" a League trainer shouted. "They're coming right for us!"
Emile looked up and gritted his teeth. He witnessed the sky suddenly grow darker and darker as various large black blobs began to swallow it up, and they were approaching them rather quickly.
"When they come closer, engage!" Emile ordered his men, then looked towards his Glaceon. "Give Venus and Alakazam cover. We need these mines disabled."
Frère let out a cheerful bark as he jumped forward. He looked above and took aim at the first murder and waited….
Then the blobs moved downward. They were approaching the squad at rapid speeds, and if they got any closer the blobs would devour them whole.
It was then that various Pokemon were called. Slowbro and Magneton were by the sides of the trainers, and Emile saw Santoro release a Corviknight.
It didn't take long until the night sky was lit up by the combination of bright colors of electricity and ice, mixed in with water attacks being blasted by the Slowbros.
Murkrow began to fall by the dozens, and as they fell and tried to recover, the League Trainers took a step forward with Ultra Balls in their hands.
"Start catching them!" Santoro grinned.
The trainers didn't even hesitate. Each one of them threw their Ultra Balls at the murder, catching Murkrow after Murkrow in the group. Dozens of the Pokeballs began to shake, and then they all clicked. If it weren't for the Cleptatrices, these Pokemon wouldn't have been caught.
However, a few of the Ultra Balls shattered and exploded in a ray of blinding white light, releasing their captured target.
The Murkrow that were free attempted to form up into their fearsome murders, but before they even could they were suddenly blasted by Team Lucario.
"What now? Do we move forward?" a trainer asked.
"No!" Emile shouted. "We'll hold the line until everything's disabled!"
Venus was being careful with disarming the gas mines, and with dark type energy clouding Alakazam's senses, he had to concentrate on small clusters of the explosives that were present. It wouldn't take much longer, thankfully.
"Hey, boss! My Magnezone is spotting something above the club!" a League trainer pointed out.
Emile narrowed his eyes and saw the bulky figure of a Honchkrow circling above the club… then it began to fly towards the group.
"Establish barriers and shoot it down, now!" he shouted.
Those Murkrow were wild. They were merely a distraction, the real enemy was this Honchkrow!
Dozens of psychic barriers were formed around Team Lucario, and soon Emile felt an intense heat coming in his direction…
Then all he saw was a sea of black.
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Lantana
Pokemon Center
The Lieutenant General
The Lieutenant General let out a sharp whistle as he looked over to the Worker's District.
To the east was Il Club Gladio, and behind that was a large battle going on… at first it had been a dazzling light show, with lightning tearing through dark blobs with a little bit of ice and water on top. It had been damn good too, and suddenly those Murkrow vanished as soon as they had appeared!
Damn Snag Machines, the officer thought as he started sneaking into The Pokemon Center. It wasn't hard to do so, he had ways of hiding himself from the psychics, and it wouldn't be too big of a deal if he was spotted anyway.
As soon as he took his first step, the awful yet familiar stench of burnt grass filled his nostrils. The Lieutenant General raised his brow and looked around. Was something in the Center on fire? No, that would be ridiculous, the alarms would have gone on as soon as it was detected.
"The hell is going on…?" he thought as he looked back towards the battle, and saw a lone Honchkrow fly above.
The location where The Murkrow were at was suddenly on fire, and the Honchkrow above cawed and laughed as he circled the battlefield.
"Jeez, Ombretta… I knew you had a thing for murder, but really?" the Lieutenant General remarked as he shook his head and chuckled. "Then again, I guess that's partially why we brought you on board."
He began to observe the battlefield again, and watched as the Honchkrow began to leave Il Club Gladio. More than likely his job was done, and Ombretta was going to leave it to Aldo to fend off the rest of the League before the Pugni Ardenti arrived to act as reinforcements.
Ah, he wanted to watch more but unfortunately he had a job to do… it was a rather simple one, but yet it was important. Not just to him, but to the Legione in whole.
He quietly entered the Pokemon Center and brought out a Pokeball before he called out one of his old partners, a Pokemon who had been with him since the war.
The Pokemon was a Falinks, a Pokemon that consisted of six tiny beings that acted entirely as one. They were rather common in regions like Galar and Paldea, but the one in front of the Lieutenant General was different.
Their small circular bodies were no longer covered by bright gold armor, but rather metal gray armor that was covered with rust. Their helmets were different, having more space so people could stare at their dark bodies and hollow, white eyes. The only one that stood out from these six was the "brass" or the leader of the other five, who had a strange red plumage on his helmet.
These were Falinks "born" in Enotria. The species had transformed sometime during The Dissian Era. Some believed it was thanks to Aquilus, while scientists argued that it was thanks to Enotria's violent past that they changed. Regardless of how it happened, the fighting types were more aggressive and lethal than before, thanks to their added ghost typing.
The brass stared at their superior officer. It did not speak, none of the six ever spoke.
"There are cameras here," the Lieutenant General said. "Disable them, then go ahead and mess with the security stationed here, but try to limit casualties. We don't want a shitshow…"
All six of the Falinks vanished into the shadows, and their trainer smiled as he turned around and went back to walking through the Pokemon Center. He had a single mission: to retrieve the member captured by The League.
That was rule number one, after all: never leave a man behind, no matter what, and it was up to the Lieutenant General to do it. Would it have been easier to have someone else do it? Sure, but he needed to stretch his legs. He was going to go crazy if he didn't!
Besides, Aldo was in no position to retrieve his lost man, so it was up to the Lieutenant General to do it before he returned to his day job.
Ah, how he hated his day job… he loved field work so much more! You could never do anything while chained up to a desk, but on the battlefield? Well, anything could happen!
He continued to move through the Pokemon Center that was now clear of all distractions. If he was a betting man, and he stopped being one after his son was born, then the man he was looking for was right…
"Oh! I didn't think you would arrive so soon!" a voice from behind muttered.
Ah, dammit.
The Lieutenant General turned around and saw a curly blonde haired woman wearing a nurse's outfit. She was a rather cute thing too, with pretty green eyes you could get lost in. Unfortunately for her, the Lieutenant was on a schedule and he couldn't waste any time…
"Apologies, miss," he said.
The girl raised a brow but before she could utter a word, the right side of her jaw was suddenly struck by the Lieutenant's fist. With one single strike, she was rendered unconscious and crumpled to the floor.
"Very sorry, in fact," the Lieutenant General whispered as he gritted his teeth. He kneeled down and pressed two fingers against her neck, and as he realized that she was still breathing, he smiled.
Contrary to belief, he wasn't exactly fond of harming civilians unless it was worth it, especially women and children, but what kind of battle didn't have civilian casualties?
Now then, where was he? The officer thought as he stood upright. Then remembered exactly where he needed to go!
The Infirmary. It had to be where they were keeping their prisoner, as it had the necessary items needed to properly restrain him.
The Lieutenant General started to move again, his pace quicker than before, and he glanced around as he snuck through the Pokemon Center. The analysts and what few security remained were probably shocked and on the lookout.
There was also a good chance they were heading to the infirmary for their prisoner, meaning he needed to get there first.
"I'm thinking… they're probably in the first room on the infirmary level," he muttered to himself.
It didn't take long for the Lieutenant General to see that he was right. As soon as he went into the infirmary wing, the first room had a man strapped to a bed as if he were a nuthouse patient, with a single League trainer guarding him. No Pokemon were out either, which was good, and the trainer in question appeared to be at least 17, just a kid in the officer's mind.
"Hey there!" the Lieutenant General greeted as he opened the door.
The League trainer immediately saluted. "Ah, I didn't expect to see you here, sir!"
The Lieutenant General smiled as his hand reached down towards his waist, and slowly unsheathed the knife he kept hidden. Then he moved towards the poor boy with the speed of a predator, knife pointed at the trainer's stomach.
"Sorry kid… it's your unlucky night," he whispered. "But, I'll give you one gift… tonight, I'll tell you the whole truth."
The boy cried as he struggled in his supposed superior's grip, his violet eyes wide with fear. It was almost delicious! Though, those purple eyes reminded the Lieutenant of his wife.
Maybe I should visit her and my boy soon, he thought as his hand moved up to the poor trainer's mouth, muffling all that noise he was making.
"I hate this League. I hate Enotria the way it is… so I'm gonna help tear it apart, piece by piece," he whispered into the boy's ear. "You can call me a traitor if you want, but know it was Silvano and his damn coup that betrayed me first… and now Salvadore and I will fix everything, and we're all going to start a nice, big, war to make it all happen."
Tears streamed out of the poor boy's eyes as he tried to reach for the Pokeball on his belt, but before he could he found himself on the receiving end of the Lieutenant General's knife. Blood poured from his stomach, and his eyes widened in pain as his killer twisted the blade.
"See you in Hell."