The wind swept over the desert, gliding over it and creating soft rustling noises as sand scraped against sand, despite this I couldn’t help but think it was surprisingly silent for what was unfolding in front of our eyes.

There were so many people and Pokémon swarming us the sound around us should have been deafening.

The soft zooming noise created by the aircrafts that hung in the air was barely noticeable unless you were looking for it.

It was a mystery as to how they could stay airborne without the noise you'd expect to be produced from their powerful engines. This world's technology was weird.

The sound of wings beating was also barely noticeable and most of the hostile Pokémon that hovered in the air had small wings, only a few had big enough wings to stir up sand and make noise.

I spotted lots of Metagross, Magnemite and Zubat that made up the majority of Hunter J’s swarms. There were also some odd and exotic Pokémon in the crowd that I hadn't seen before in Sinnoh and I had to admit that they looked very threatening. Metagross were supposed to be rare, so to have a dozen of them at your command said something about your influence.

Men wearing armored uniforms watched from above, sternly and without shifting their gaze away from us even once.

I had never seen this much fire power gathered in one place. Sure I met some exceptionally strong Pokémon but never this many. And I was never at their mercy.

And in front of us stood the ringleader of this flying circus, the infamous Hunter J with the red Larvitar lying unconsciously at her feet.

The way she stood there, with her blue hair faltering in the wind and wearing all black, I had to admit she looked sexy but in the dangerous-predator kind of way, the kind that made people say, 'don't stick your dick in crazy’.

Right now I was too terrified to even appreciate her looks.

A majestic Salamence hovered behind her and Hunter J's finger had not left the trigger once.

I saw Brock subtly reaching for a Pokéball. I wasn't the only one who noticed. Ever so slightly, Hunter J shifted the aim of her weapon to the ex-Gym leader.

"Ah, please don't waste our time with that," she spoke in our direction but didn’t directly address us..

"What are you going to do with that Larvitar?" Ash asked angrily, his eyes burning with passion.

Although admirable it was stupid to even be concerned about Larvitar while we were in a situation much worse.

"Excuse me, but we haven't met yet, who are you?" I asked the blue-haired woman. I was trying my hardest to make myself sound calm and not like I was almost pissing myself. Ash was going to get us killed a whole lot faster by making an enemy out of Hunter J instead of doing the smart thing and not yelling at the woman holding a gun.

I could maybe talk our way out of this confrontation.

"That is Hunter J," Fay growled while her small body was trembling, "She's the one who killed her."

The last part was choked out and I could hear the pain in her voice.

"Mmm, you don't know?" Hunter J mused, "Well, I am called Hunter J." She casually swung her rifle as she talked, "right now I have a mission and I can not afford any witnesses."

While Ash was gritting his teeth, even his stubborn mind realized that right now was not the time to act. The other member of our party, Dawn, seemed to have frozen up, too terrified to move. Luckily her Pokémon had not and stood in front of her, ready to protect their trainer.

Brock was mostly the same as Ash but he managed to hide his anger better.

"She killed my mom!" Fay cried out suddenly, drawing all attention towards herself.

Hunter J perked up and looked at Riolu with renewed interest.

"Did your Pokémon say something?" She looked at me inquisitively.

Fay took a step forward. "It was you!"

"She's saying nothing," I quickly lied, feeling like I could drop dead any second. With a sick feeling I realized that Fay was a loose cannon. I had to remove Fay from this situation. But how? Any wrong move on our side could be taken as a sign of hostility by Hunter J. Returning Fay could lead to more questions from Hunter J, or worse, she could see it as us preparing for battle and there was a possibility that Fay would flat out refuse to go back.

One of the guys hovering in the air, he was riding on top of a black bird Pokémon, moved towards us to intervene but Hunter J waved him off, wordlessly ordering him to stay down.

{You killed her mom.} A telepathic voice rang through my head; it was a voice I was familiar with.

I felt my body getting cold and I had the urge to scream at Luna for being an idiot. But the gun, it was now subtly pointed at me.

"Where did that come from?" Hunter J craned her neck to look around, before finally settling on my Ralts, the only psychic around. "A Telepath?" she wondered out loud.

That moment my suspicions were proven to be true: Luna had just used Telepathy but this time she had broadcasted the message to everyone.

"Did you hear that voice?" Dawn muttered, looking around.

"You monster!" Fay ignored everything and continued her emotional rant, either not noticing Luna was kindly translating her words, or not caring.

"What is she saying?" Hunter J stared at Riolu.

"Luna don't!" I hissed. Hunter J briefly flashed me a glare. Wordlessly she conveyed to me to shut up and let things play out. Regardless, it was too late.

Luna translated without any concern. {She says that you killed her mother and now she calls you a monster.} With a quiet and cold tone she whispered into my mind. {Let Fay distract them all, we can escape in the chaos she creates.}

I felt betrayed.

My hands were shaking and this time it wasn't because of fear but out of anger.

Luna was not stupid, I made sure of that and she should know damn well not to translate what Fay was saying but she did it anyway; most likely already knowing how Fay and Hunter J would react.

I cursed myself. And then again. And again. I couldn’t do anything without invoking the ire of Hunter J. I was utterly powerless and I hated it.

Why did I even dare to hope that things were normal and bright for once? My own starter Pokémon just betrayed me.

"Ralts?" Luna's eyes shot towards me and I saw she was confused by my reaction. {Don’t you get it? I am ensuring our survival.}

Oblivious to the weight of what Luna had just done Hunter J continued to talk with Fay.

"Did I kill your mother?" She asked with sadistic glee, "Can you be more specific, please? I killed a lot of Pokémon."

I stared at Luna, feeling dead inside like nothing even mattered anymore. The conversation continued but it felt like I was seeing the world through a foggy window, everything felt so distant and insignificant.

Luna claimed to have our best interest in mind but I understood what was really going on.

Luna tried to backstab Fay. Throw her to the wolves.

"You know who!" Fay whimpered as she slowly took a step towards the blue-haired killer.

"No, doesn't ring a bell," Hunter J went on, no longer needing a translator. The despair and the anger on Fay's face spoke more than a thousand words.

"Probably a Lucario," Hunter J thought out loud without any empathy in her voice. There was only cold amusement. "Wait, was she one of those special colored ones?"

"You don't even deny it," Fay muttered with shock.

The smile at Hunter J's face replaced the need for words.

"You don't even care do you?"

Luna kept shaking my leg and calling my name, sounding panicked but her words didn't reach me. She was talking about how she had a plan. How it was a gamble, a calculated move, a bad move for the greater good. All of these things went right through me.

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But I only felt awful.

How could she? She was my first Pokémon in this world.

Was I that pathetic?

"I hate you!" Fay shouted.

"No," Hunter J shrugged, "Doesn't ring a bell."

Shiny claws appeared on Fay's paws and she lashed out at Hunter J with a horizontal swipe. With ease the woman took a step back, not even surprised by the sudden attack.

I was about to take a step forward to intervene but Hunter J gave me a sharp look. The guys above her leveled their weapons at me.

With skillful footwork she took a few more steps back, every step dodging another swipe that could tear through human flesh in an instant, all the while she was smiling widely.

Fay leaped forward but again the hunter dodged it.

As Fay landed she bowed through her knees and prepared for a second leap when a clicking sound followed.

The barrel of Hunter J's gun was pressed against Riolu's head and the tiny Pokémon froze in horror.

Despite never having seen her kind of rifle before I was almost 100% certain her shot would kill Fay.

The expression on Hunter J's face changed from playful to serious.

"Now I remember," she spat. "She was the one who wouldn't stop crying!"

I expected Fay to explode in rage. To do something more reckless but instead she became limp. Something broke inside of Fay.

She fell through her knees and stared down at the ground underneath her. Tears streamed down her face and an expression of utter defeat followed.

"No..." she softly cried.

Hunter J rotated a handle on her rifle and watched the crying Pokémon with a morbid curiosity.

"Please don't!" Ash called out, despite the weapons trained on him he moved forward a single careful step. "She's still young."

"Have you no heart?" Brock asked with a flat voice, staring at Hunter J.

"Please...don't kill her." I weakly offered, still feeling like shit.

{What's wrong?} Luna kept pulling my leg, {Talk to me! What is wrong? Hunter J will be distracted and we can escape!}

"I'm so sorry," Fay whispered, defeated.

I will never know what HunterJ would do next, or what Luna’s next excuse for betraying Fay was or if Ash had a better plan.

Without a warning the world exploded into chaos.

A white flash appeared above us, followed by more flashes all over the place, each a flicker of light on the bright blue sky.

Confused, distraught and still too caught up with my own emotions I looked around and saw people appear in the sky around us, but it was not in the same way as before with the invisibility that was pulled away from Hunter J’s fleet.

Instead, everyone appeared with a bright flash, like they were teleporting in from someplace.

A visible wave of surprise and uneasiness went through Hunter J’s troops as the tables were suddenly turned on them, no longer were they the only ones in the sky and they looked to be surrounded.

Dragons appeared in the sky, gigantic birds spread their wings, insects crawled out of the ground, Pokémon on foot, all sorts of types and too many to see in one glance all popped into existence at once.

An Onix flew out of the sand and hit one of Hunter J's troops out of the air with a bite.

A single command was yelled and echoed through the desert.

"Attack!"

"Shit!" Hunter J cursed loudly.

War began around us and suddenly, everything was happening at once.

Shining beams of fire tore through one of the aircrafts and cut through it like it was made out of paper. They were fired by a squad of Fire type Pokémon on the ground that seemed to be commanded by a person riding a Ponyta.

The aircraft split in two and started to descend from the sky, metal pieces fell off the ship and crashed down, effectively making it rain hot fire on the Pokémon and humans underneath it.

Arcs of lightning traveled through the air and zapped everything near it, a closer look revealed it to be a Raichu riding on the back of a Staraptor.

Hunter J groaned and brought her hand to her ear and began to yell orders.

"Begin extraction now! Leave behind the C squad as a decoy!"

In the distance I saw a blond woman riding a weird dragon Pokémon I identified as a Dragonite. She shouted an order and the Dragonite aimed his head skywards and opened his mouth.

Hunter J's troops began to attack the pair but the woman riding the dragon orchestrated a hasty defense with the other Pokémon near her and forced Hunter J’s troops to circle around the Dragonite.

The entire desert was now a battlefield and it was frightening to see how fast the landscape had changed.

Tidal waves and flame tornadoes razed through it and picked off their targets. Flashes and explosions shot through the sky and the earth rumbled and groaned.

It was pure chaos.

Suddenly a feeling of pain jolted through my entire body. I jumped in reflex and saw Pikachu staring at me, his cheeks glowing with power.

"Eyes here Dust!" Ash scolded. "We need to get out of here, now!"

Luna stopped shaking my legs and took a step back, she rubbed the tears out of her red eyes,

More explosions went off in the background and our surroundings cracked like the world was ending. Maybe it was.

Gold coloured streaks shot across the sky, hitting people and Pokémon. Screams and howls mixed with the sand of the desert that started to become littered with the signs of violence and war.

"We need to get out of here, NOW!" Brock yelled.

Hunter J stood with her back towards us, shouting orders into a device. Apparently, we were no longer her top priority.

I blinked a few times and I felt the surreal feeling disappear, I had to do something. Everything else, including my feelings, could wait.

A fresh shot of adrenaline entered my body and I felt myself become more awake and alive then I had felt for a week.

"We need to teleport out of here," I murmured before turning to face Luna. "Can you teleport us out of here?"

It was only a matter of time before we would be dragged into this mess as well.

{I-I-I am s-orry.} Luna stuttered the words emotionally.

"Not now," I grimaced. "Teleport, yes or no?"

Something dropped from the sky and landed near us. It was a small purple Pokémon with fleshy wings.

Or what was left of it rather, the Zubat had gaping holes in its wings and its entire body was scorched black.

Despite all of that it was still moving, the wings were flapping in a desperate attempt to regain flight.

Without any warning, a Haunter jumped out of its shadow and licked its face before disappearing again.

The Zubat stopped moving.

{I can't!} Luna answered after taking a very deep breath to calm herself. {Something is blocking me.}

Hunter J turned to face us, or so I thought but instead, she straight up ignored us and knelt down in front of the red Larvitar and scooped it up with one hand.

A whirlpool formed above the ground and seemed to be heading our direction but the Salamence fired a fireball at it and the whirlpool dissolved.

A red-colored liquid rained from the sky and I saw someone fall off his Pokémon and hit the ground like a ragdoll.

This really is happening. What the fuck?! How can this be happening?

I turned to focus my attention on the situation at hand.

"Okay, all Pokémon form a circle around us," I yelled at the Pokémon present.

The girl riding her Dragonite was done charging up her attack. She pointed up and a small burning ball of fire shot was launched into the sky where it began to grow in size.

Eventually, it reached the top of its climb and the orb descended, flames licked away at the edges and everything near it was instantly scorched.

It left a trail of smoke as it traveled down and it shot straight through the biggest airship like a meteor from space.

Remarkably it remained airborne, force fields surrounding the ship flickered to life but the glow was faint and if I had to guess almost broken.

Other long-ranged attacks were fired at it, black orbs and wind blades smashed through it and the shields vanished.

The ship began to get wrecked as every attack cut into its engines and walls.

A final boulder was flung at it and managed to send it down to earth.

"Pika!" Pikachu cried out.

A man riding a Rhyhorn let out a war cry as they charged towards us, no- towards Hunter J who stood with her back towards him.

He had green hair and looked very young. I estimated him to be around 20 years old or so.

Hunter J turned around and pulled the trigger on her gun, holding it with one hand while pressing the Larvitar against her chest with the other.

Bullets sprayed the man and hit him in the chest, a fireball followed and both of them crashed into a boulder where the man imploded brutally.

"Well, I am taking my leave now," Hunter J said without any concern in her voice while the main ship crashed down in the background.

She aimed her gun at us once again as she stepped onto Salemence's wings without even looking at her Pokémon.

"Goodbye," she smiled.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried. "Use-"

Hunter J pulled the trigger.

The sound of a machine gun being fired followed and I closed my eyes, wondering if this was how it was going to end.

No impact followed.

I opened my eyes and saw the metal bullets were frozen mid-flight and hung motionless in the air, only a meter away from my face.

"I found civilians here!" A female voice shouted, miraculously managing to make her voice rise above the sound of battle. I felt something grab me from behind.

A black guy wearing a bandana was riding an Arcanine and came to a stop next to me. He briefly looked at me, or rather at something above me.

"Get them to safety."

"Will do!" The same female voice answered from above me, "Hold on tight!"

Luna grasped onto my leg last minute as I felt myself getting lifted into the air. In a panic, I gazed up and I saw I was in the grip of a Tropius who was flying me away from the battlefield.

A girl with long brown hair smiled down at me from atop her Tropius' back.

Ash, Brock and Dawn were also being carried away but not by a Tropius instead they were in the grasp of an Alakazam who levitated all three of them and their Pokémon in the air.

Underneath me, I saw the guy with the bandana jump off his Pokémon's back and began to throw more Pokéballs in the air.

He was trying to reach Hunter J but a Metagross was blocking his path.

"Aaahh, what's going on!" Dawn screeched while she was being held by an invisible force.

"Don't worry," The girl shouted as she flew higher into the air, narrowly avoiding attacks that seemed to come from all directions, "You are being rescued and brought to safety!"

She was speaking with a slight accent that I couldn't really place.

The girl kept smiling, even as an explosion almost blew her out of the saddle.

"Who are you people?!" Ash shouted.

The ground underneath me was getting farther away every second and I felt like puking my stomach out.

"Unova, Kanto and Sinnoh proudly present to you, the Hero Unit for Nationwide Threats." The words were spoken with pride and confidence. It was accompanied by a smile.

"FAY!" I cried out as the blue Riolu was still sitting in the middle of a warzone, all on her own and she was getting further away with every passing second.

The girl kept smiling brightly, completely blind to life.

"Welcome to The Hunt!"