Story Notes:
I don't own Pokemon. Nintendo, Game Freak and its affiliates do.
Edge of the Earth
"Everyone calls me Sarge. But you can call me -"
"Sarge!"
The Gallade whipped around, and saw one of his men running up to him.
"Private? What's wrong?"
The man skidded to a halt in front of him, panting. "Sir...it would just be easier to show you. And you won't like it."
The Gallade straightened, then turned to us. I nodded, showing him that whatever it was, we were going to help.
"Alright," he said. "Show me."
We ran along the pathway, not hearing anything besides our panting, and seeing nothing but the person or Pokemon in front of us. The wilderness was quite dead.
Or so we thought.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
I yelled out in pain as the sound shot through my skull, sending me to my knees in agony. Through the pain and haze my watering eyes gave me, I recognized the move: Metal Sound. But this seemed overpowered, and I was wondering why - until I saw the soldier that was leading us wasn't on the ground.
"GAHROOOOH!" It took me a split second to realize that this soldier wasn't one of us. Not anymore. As I continued to look, I saw a sparkle in the sky. Blinking my eyes, I noticed it wasn't going away. Another blink; and I saw a figure to go along with the sparkle. Yet another blink; and the figure was bearing down on us - a Skarmory.
"DUCK!" I shouted, making everyone who wasn't already prone on the ground hit the deck, and I followed suit. A rough gust of wind, and I glanced up. To my shock, the soldier was still standing, and even worse, he-it had the Skarmory by the neck!
"Skreeee..." the Skarmory said weakly, as the infected soldier increased its grip it had.
'Oh no you don't!' I thought savagely, as I stood up and ran over, nearly tripping over myself (and everyone else) to get to the duo.
As I approached, I hefted DI and aimed the butt of it at the soldier's head. A second just before I struck, it turned its head - right into my strike.
Cra-ack!
As the butt of my weapon struck the being, it spun around, losing its grip on the Skarmory and spinning onto the ground.
"SKREEEE!" the Skarmory called, grateful for the help. As I turned back to the infected soldier, I watched in horror as its head somehow managed to rotate back into place.
'DAEMON!' I heard Lily call out.
Bang!
I was so distracted by the head rotating back that I had failed to notice one thing: this infected can operate weapons. Glancing down at myself, I spotted a blotch of red on my clothes where there shouldn't be. Curious, I prodded at that spot, and felt pain.
"Now, die, like all of you will soon enough."
Snapping my head back up, I had one good look at the soldier. It spoke in the most inhuman voice I had ever heard.
"DIE."
'NOOO!'
Bang.
No pain. No ground meeting my face.
I opened my eyes and saw a white and green being in front of me.
"Lily...?"
She turned her head back towards me, smiling a crooked smile, then collapsed onto the ground with a light thump.
"LILY!"
Turning her over, I saw a red spot on her chest, spreading as the blood flowed freely. Rage like I had never known before took a hold on me as I straightened up.
"You...you will pay...for this."
I turned my head at the being, who hastily took a step back from my glare before regaining composure.
"You? What can you hope to accomplish? Even your Gardevoir gave its life for you, and yet you still decide to fight?"
I snapped, and so did the head of the soldier, as I unconsciously whipped DI's stock into its head again.
"My Gardevoir has a NAME! And HER name is LILY!" I roared, spit flying from my mouth as I rammed DI's stock into the beast's head again and again, willing the pain I felt to be transferred over.
Bang.
I stumbled back from the second round that impacted me. But this only fuelled my rage further.
"So you wanna play like this, huh? WELL I CAN PLAY DIRTY TOO!" I shouted, turning DI around and pulling the trigger. Round after round exited its barrel, recoil nonexistent as each round of buckshot hit the soldier's body mercilessly.
Click-click-click
Almost instantaneously I flipped DI back and used its stock to bash the soldier's head into the ground, tears flowing as freely as Lily's blood.
Lily.
I immediately dropped DI and ran over to Lily, Sarge and the others already treating her wound. As I reached the group, Sarge glanced up and stared in shock. Soon, everyone else followed suit, staring at me as if I were a ghost.
"Is she okay?" I asked faintly.
"Lily? She's going to be fine! But you, on the other hand..." Elaine's voice faded as I collapsed beside Lily, the last thing I saw before fading away into unconsciousness was her face, eyes fluttering open as she, herself, regained consciousness.
"Lily..." I breathed. Then all went black.
Lily's POV
'Ungh...' I moaned quietly, as I opened my eyes.
"Lily..." I heard a voice whisper to me.
I sat up, but screamed in pain as my wound got the better of me.
'AAH! Ungh, Daemon! Daemon!' I shouted at him, but his unconscious form wouldn't answer. Flipping him over, I noticed he bore the signs of battle - along with two of the same wounds from the soldier's weapon. Lowering my head to his chest, I could hear a faint, but steady, heartbeat. He still lived. With the dirt on his face, I could notice the tear tracks, recently shed.
'Wait, he shed tears...for me?' I wondered. 'No matter. I need to help him!' Focusing my powers, I used Recover - as best as I could, it being a move for the user, not for allies.
"Lily," the Gallade said.
'Not now,' I growled back, the interruption slowing the healing process.
"Lily," Elaine started, "you're opening up your wound, stop and let Sue heal him."
I groaned, now focusing on two things, healing Daemon, and placing a soundproof barrier between us, and the rest of the group. Seconds passed, and he was slowly getting better, whereas I was getting worse. As my wound reopened, I had less and less power to focus into healing him. After a couple of minutes, I let out a sigh, dropping the barrier and focusing the rest of my abilities into healing Daemon.
'I...I can't...con...tin...' and before I knew it, I passed out on top of him, and all went black.
"Sir?"
"What is it?"
"We have an active tracking beacon. It's from one of the TNS members."
"The TNS? Weren't all of them killed by the packages?"
"They were. Or so we thought."
"Find that member. And make sure that that member doesn't talk. Now go, quickly."
"Yes, sir!"
Daemon's POV
"Ungh..." I groaned as I woke up. Damn, it felt as though I've been stabbed through with a couple of ice picks...wait, what's on me? Cracking an eye open, I noticed it was night time, and there weren't any sounds apart from soft breathing coming from right next to me. Opening my eyes further, I caught a glimpse of a white fabric gliding over me as a light breeze blew.
Suddenly, I felt a light squeeze as the being semi-laying on me shifted in its sleep, and something poked me in the side. Moving slightly to accommodate the sudden contact, I saw a red reflection. Just then, some overhead clouds parted, and the moonlight landed on the figure sleeping beside me.
"Lily," I breathed. In all honesty, she looked absolutely stunning, laying there in the moonlight. Somehow, I just knew that it was she who helped me right after I helped her. Unconsciously, without thought, I leaned in close and placed a light kiss on her forehead, silently thanking her for risking her life to save mine.
'Thank you too, Daemon,' she suddenly whispered to me. I jumped slightly, not knowing she was awake. Lily opened her eyes, a beautiful ruby red, and kissed me on the forehead as well.
"What made you do it?" I asked quietly, not wanting to wake up the others.
She shifted guiltily, looked away and blushed. 'You,' she breathed.
"Me?"
She looked back at me, our eyes locking. 'You. You risk so much for us, not even giving a second thought to your own safety, and what you did for that Skarmory made me act on my own, as though something inside me wanted to help as well.'
"I believe that's called bravery, or courage," I replied.
'You have quite a bit of it...but what makes you act so? I wonder...' she drifted off, eyes glancing skyward. I followed suit, and spotted a shooting star.
'Make a wish,' Lily said.
'It's already granted,' I thought unconsciously.
Lily snuggled close to me, wrapping an arm around my torso as we succumbed to sleep.
"Wake up."
You know enough to know the way
Blearily opening my eyes, I saw the face of Sarge, with a look of concern on his face.
Six billion people just one name
"'Sup?" I asked groggily.
(I found)
I found tomorrow in today
"It's not safe here anymore," he started, "We're being tracked."
Adrenaline firing through my veins, I shot up, sleep gone from my system.
Apocalyptic and insane, my dreams will never change
"How and when did you know?"
"I can still sense lifeforms through my limited Psychic abilities. Wake Lily up, she'll be able to sense them clearer."
You wanna be the one in control
"Why not ask Seth?" I queried.
"He knows. He's keeping an eye on the forest around us with his Aura Sight. Now get up, reload your weapon, and let's get moving."
You wanna be the one who's alive
"Lily," I said, rubbing her shoulder gently.
'Mmph...what?' she replied wearily.
"Get up, we need to move. Sarge says we're being tracked."
She opened her eyes, but instead of her natural ruby red, they were a mix of blue and purple.
'Yes, I can sense them. A group of five humans - although I can't tell if they're infected...and they're armed.'
"Damn," I muttered, getting up and moving over to where I dropped DI the day before - still next to the dead soldier. Picking it up, I noticed a glint of metal. Reaching out, I pulled out the soldier's dogtags.
You wanna be the one who gets old
'Hmm...Sarge might need these,' I mused. Sharply pulling on the chain, I ripped the dogtags off the corpse and put them in my pocket. Just then I noticed another object. The soldier's pistol. I picked it up and tucked it into my waistband at the small of my back. Moving back over to Lily and my pack, I rummaged around for another drum magazine for DI, and to my dismay, only found one.
I swore under my breath. "Fuck."
Ejecting the spent mag, I slotted the fresh one in and racked the slide. "Alright, let's move."
Walking along the path, we kept our eyes out for anything suspicious.
"Alex, how far are we from Jubilife?" Seth asked.
Alex checked his Poketch and replied, "Not far now, we just have to go over the next ridge and we'll be able to see it."
"And from there?"
"A short walk. I'd say less than half a click until City limits."
It's not a matter of luck, it's just a matter of time
A sudden rustle of leaves brought our attention to the forest around us.
"Lo...Lopunny..." a lone Lopunny stumbled out of the bushes, clearly in excessive pain.
"Oh my..." Elaine gasped.
Immediately, Sarge went up to the Lopunny and began speaking to it in Poke-speech.
"Sarge?"
"She's hurt. Apparently she got caught in the residual blast from an explosion...and it's burning her from within. Looks like I wasn't the only team dispatched with nuclear devices..."
"I'm sorry, did you say nuclear?" I asked in disbelief.
Stand out on the edge of the earth
"You haven't figured it out already? TNS stands for Tactical Nuclear Squad. We're demolition experts who use extremely clean methods of destroying objects."
Stand out on the edge of the earth
"Seems like these deployments weren't so clean..." I mused.
Sarge shook his head. "Guess not. My guess is that Command deliberately used dirty munitions to combat the virus."
"And now look what happened," Alex spat bitterly.
"I don't like this any more than you. All TNS' are trained with effectiveness and proper use of nuclear devices. How dirty munitions got into our supplies, I'll never know."
"There is one way," I said quietly.
Sarge looked at me with curiosity. "There is? Explain."
Dive into the center of fate
I looked at him. "We ask Command."
Sarge stared at me in shock. "Are you kidding me? We're being followed here, and you want us to reveal our position more?"
Walk right in the sight of a gun
"Not now. We go over to the nearest base and ask there."
"And where would that be?" Seth asked.
"Not that I'm entitled to reveal classified information to civilians, but this is a priority emergency. TNS are strictly supposed to use clean munitions, nothing else. We have to get to the bottom of this before more innocent lives are altered."
Look into the new future's face
"Lopaa!" the Lopunny cried out.
'She's in extreme pain! Can't you do anything to help her?' Lily asked.
"Not when it comes to nuclear poisoning. That can't be cured as far as I know without special equipment - and that equipment is well out of our reach right now."
"So...what's going to happen to her?" Elaine queried.
"There's no alternative to ease her pain..." Sarge said slowly, walking back to the Lopunny, raising his right arm.
I know you know enough to say
"...So there's only one way," he said, stopping just slightly behind and to the left of the Lopunny, his blade extending. "Rest now," he finished, bringing his extended blade to bear, stabbing through the Lopunny's chest.
Lily and Elaine gasped in horror.
"LOPAA!" she cried out, clutching the appendage out of sheer reflex. Blood dripped from the blade as the Lopunny twitched, the life seeping out of her.
"Shhh..." Sarge said. "It'll be all over soon..."
"Lo...Lopaa...ny..." she gasped as she finally passed on.
"I'm so sorry," Sarge said, using a bit of Psychic to remove the Lopunny's body from his blade.
As the body collapsed onto the floor, Lily and Elaine snapped out of their stupor.
'Why? Why couldn't we save her?' Lily asked, tears forming around her eyes.
"As I've said before, all the equipment needed to reverse or slow down the effects of nuclear poisoning are far out from our reach. In the time it would have taken us to get her to a medical facility, she would have already died. I just put her out of her misery. I only hope it was for the better..." he replied, hanging his head.
"But why that way?"
"Would you want to scare her away because one of us drew a gun on her?" I asked bitterly, seeing the truth. "She would've ran and died anyways, but before she did, she would have spent agonizing hours, possibly days, in pain. You did it for the best," I finished, clapping a hand onto Sarge's shoulder.
"Yeah, but still..."
"Lopaa..."
"What the...?"
Me and Sarge froze and slowly turned around.
I know you know enough to play a game
"LOPAA...GAROOOOH!!"
"No..." Sarge said disbelievingly.
'Aww, HELL no!' I thought.
As we finished looking back, we saw the Lopunny...
You wanna be the one in control
Getting up from the floor.
Seth was by our sides in an instant, an Aura Sphere charging in his paws.
You wanna be the one who's alive
I raised DI to shoulder height as Sarge did the same with his XM29.
"Lily," I called back.
'Yes, Daemon?' she answered, worry in her voice.
"Protect everyone else for me, okay?"
'I will.'
"Good," I said, taking aim, "Now let's BRING IT!"
It's not a matter of luck, it's just a matter of time
As soon as I said that, the mutated Lopunny lashed out with its newly-created tentacles, scattering the three of us. Seth retaliated first, launching his Aura Sphere as Sarge and I got to our feet.
'I'll go high, you go low,' Sarge projected.
Making eye contact with him, I acknowledged his suggestion with a nod, then simultaneously fired on the Lopunny - full auto.
Stand out on the edge of the earth
Dive into the center of fate
Walk right in the sight of a gun
Look into the new future's face
The Lopunny, however, had other plans. Taking full use of its superior jumping abilities, it dodged all three attacks. I had to be conservative with my ammunition, however, and only fired two rounds. But when it jumped, I fired off two more rounds as it gained height.
Stand out on the edge of the earth
Dive into the center of fate
Walk right in the sight of a gun
Look into the new future's face
"Hold fire! I got something cooked up," Sarge commanded as he took aim with his weapon.
"What the hell are you going to do with that? Shoot a few Pidgey from the sky?" Alex called out.
"Well, I hope I don't do that accidentally," Sarge replied, "But I hope that this'll get that thing down just the same!"
At that, he pulled the trigger and we all heard a loud thump as a round exited the top barrel of his weapon. Sarge turned to me and grinned.
"Wait for it..." he said.
"Wait for wha-"
BOOM!
I snapped my head up and saw bits and pieces of the mutated Lopunny raining down on us, but all of the pieces bounced off an invisible barrier. I heard a giggle behind me.
'Don't want you guys getting all messed up, do we?' Lily projected.
I rolled my eyes and smirked at Sarge. He grinned back, shouldering his XM29.
"We're not out of the woods yet. The ones following us. They've begun to pick up their pace," Seth said.
Grins turned to frowns all around. "Let's go," I said.
Stand out on the edge of the earth
Dive into the center of fate
Walk right in the sight of a gun
Look into the new future's face
Five minutes of jogging up the hill and we were out of breath.
"Damn, the path is longer than I remember it," I gasped, clutching my side.
Lily floated past, almost flaunting her Psychic prowess in my face with a slight giggle. Flushing, I started chasing her up the hill, but whenever I got close, she giggled again and increased her pace. Soon, we were at the top of the hill, me nearly passing out in the process.
"So...much for...a game, huh, Lily..." I said weakly.
'Daemon,' she replied, fear and concern flooding her voice.
(Stand out on the edge of the earth)
"What?" I asked, curiosity flooding my own voice.
She turned, worry marring her features. 'That soldier...the one who was infected...he wasn't lying.'
"Lying about what?" I enquired, the memory beginning to obscure the present.
'He wasn't lying about anything. Look.'
Mustering up the energy, I walked up to where she stood and took a good long look at Jubilife City...
(emphasised) Stand out on the edge of the earth
...where hordes of infected, both human and Pokemon, wandered in and around the crater where a package detonated, a two-kilometre diameter hole in the ground.
"Arceus..." Sarge had managed to catch up to us and look at the scene before him.
One by one, the rest of the group came up to the ledge and see the horror that was waiting for us.
"We can't go through that," Alex said, beginning to edge away.
Stand out on the edge of the earth
"We have to," Sarge growled, anger clearly present. "I need answers. Why were so many good men, women and Pokemon killed due to either the virus or the military's careless usage of dirty bombs?"
(Look into the new future's face)
"As I've said before, there is a way to know for certain," I reminded him.
Sarge looked at me, resolute in his decision. "And I know where the closest base is."
"But you won't be getting there alive."
Stand out on the edge of the earth
Dive into the center of fate
Walk right in the sight of a gun
Look into the new future's face
Continued in Chapter Five...
___Chapter End Notes:The true horror of the virus comes into play! Now that both human and Pokemon are infected, Daemon and Sarge finally see the path to receive the answers to the epidemic - but who is this new speaker?
- UBE Chie
"Sarge!"
The Gallade whipped around, and saw one of his men running up to him.
"Private? What's wrong?"
The man skidded to a halt in front of him, panting. "Sir...it would just be easier to show you. And you won't like it."
The Gallade straightened, then turned to us. I nodded, showing him that whatever it was, we were going to help.
"Alright," he said. "Show me."
We ran along the pathway, not hearing anything besides our panting, and seeing nothing but the person or Pokemon in front of us. The wilderness was quite dead.
Or so we thought.
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
I yelled out in pain as the sound shot through my skull, sending me to my knees in agony. Through the pain and haze my watering eyes gave me, I recognized the move: Metal Sound. But this seemed overpowered, and I was wondering why - until I saw the soldier that was leading us wasn't on the ground.
"GAHROOOOH!" It took me a split second to realize that this soldier wasn't one of us. Not anymore. As I continued to look, I saw a sparkle in the sky. Blinking my eyes, I noticed it wasn't going away. Another blink; and I saw a figure to go along with the sparkle. Yet another blink; and the figure was bearing down on us - a Skarmory.
"DUCK!" I shouted, making everyone who wasn't already prone on the ground hit the deck, and I followed suit. A rough gust of wind, and I glanced up. To my shock, the soldier was still standing, and even worse, he-it had the Skarmory by the neck!
"Skreeee..." the Skarmory said weakly, as the infected soldier increased its grip it had.
'Oh no you don't!' I thought savagely, as I stood up and ran over, nearly tripping over myself (and everyone else) to get to the duo.
As I approached, I hefted DI and aimed the butt of it at the soldier's head. A second just before I struck, it turned its head - right into my strike.
Cra-ack!
As the butt of my weapon struck the being, it spun around, losing its grip on the Skarmory and spinning onto the ground.
"SKREEEE!" the Skarmory called, grateful for the help. As I turned back to the infected soldier, I watched in horror as its head somehow managed to rotate back into place.
'DAEMON!' I heard Lily call out.
Bang!
I was so distracted by the head rotating back that I had failed to notice one thing: this infected can operate weapons. Glancing down at myself, I spotted a blotch of red on my clothes where there shouldn't be. Curious, I prodded at that spot, and felt pain.
"Now, die, like all of you will soon enough."
Snapping my head back up, I had one good look at the soldier. It spoke in the most inhuman voice I had ever heard.
"DIE."
'NOOO!'
Bang.
No pain. No ground meeting my face.
I opened my eyes and saw a white and green being in front of me.
"Lily...?"
She turned her head back towards me, smiling a crooked smile, then collapsed onto the ground with a light thump.
"LILY!"
Turning her over, I saw a red spot on her chest, spreading as the blood flowed freely. Rage like I had never known before took a hold on me as I straightened up.
"You...you will pay...for this."
I turned my head at the being, who hastily took a step back from my glare before regaining composure.
"You? What can you hope to accomplish? Even your Gardevoir gave its life for you, and yet you still decide to fight?"
I snapped, and so did the head of the soldier, as I unconsciously whipped DI's stock into its head again.
"My Gardevoir has a NAME! And HER name is LILY!" I roared, spit flying from my mouth as I rammed DI's stock into the beast's head again and again, willing the pain I felt to be transferred over.
Bang.
I stumbled back from the second round that impacted me. But this only fuelled my rage further.
"So you wanna play like this, huh? WELL I CAN PLAY DIRTY TOO!" I shouted, turning DI around and pulling the trigger. Round after round exited its barrel, recoil nonexistent as each round of buckshot hit the soldier's body mercilessly.
Click-click-click
Almost instantaneously I flipped DI back and used its stock to bash the soldier's head into the ground, tears flowing as freely as Lily's blood.
Lily.
I immediately dropped DI and ran over to Lily, Sarge and the others already treating her wound. As I reached the group, Sarge glanced up and stared in shock. Soon, everyone else followed suit, staring at me as if I were a ghost.
"Is she okay?" I asked faintly.
"Lily? She's going to be fine! But you, on the other hand..." Elaine's voice faded as I collapsed beside Lily, the last thing I saw before fading away into unconsciousness was her face, eyes fluttering open as she, herself, regained consciousness.
"Lily..." I breathed. Then all went black.
Lily's POV
'Ungh...' I moaned quietly, as I opened my eyes.
"Lily..." I heard a voice whisper to me.
I sat up, but screamed in pain as my wound got the better of me.
'AAH! Ungh, Daemon! Daemon!' I shouted at him, but his unconscious form wouldn't answer. Flipping him over, I noticed he bore the signs of battle - along with two of the same wounds from the soldier's weapon. Lowering my head to his chest, I could hear a faint, but steady, heartbeat. He still lived. With the dirt on his face, I could notice the tear tracks, recently shed.
'Wait, he shed tears...for me?' I wondered. 'No matter. I need to help him!' Focusing my powers, I used Recover - as best as I could, it being a move for the user, not for allies.
"Lily," the Gallade said.
'Not now,' I growled back, the interruption slowing the healing process.
"Lily," Elaine started, "you're opening up your wound, stop and let Sue heal him."
I groaned, now focusing on two things, healing Daemon, and placing a soundproof barrier between us, and the rest of the group. Seconds passed, and he was slowly getting better, whereas I was getting worse. As my wound reopened, I had less and less power to focus into healing him. After a couple of minutes, I let out a sigh, dropping the barrier and focusing the rest of my abilities into healing Daemon.
'I...I can't...con...tin...' and before I knew it, I passed out on top of him, and all went black.
"Sir?"
"What is it?"
"We have an active tracking beacon. It's from one of the TNS members."
"The TNS? Weren't all of them killed by the packages?"
"They were. Or so we thought."
"Find that member. And make sure that that member doesn't talk. Now go, quickly."
"Yes, sir!"
Daemon's POV
"Ungh..." I groaned as I woke up. Damn, it felt as though I've been stabbed through with a couple of ice picks...wait, what's on me? Cracking an eye open, I noticed it was night time, and there weren't any sounds apart from soft breathing coming from right next to me. Opening my eyes further, I caught a glimpse of a white fabric gliding over me as a light breeze blew.
Suddenly, I felt a light squeeze as the being semi-laying on me shifted in its sleep, and something poked me in the side. Moving slightly to accommodate the sudden contact, I saw a red reflection. Just then, some overhead clouds parted, and the moonlight landed on the figure sleeping beside me.
"Lily," I breathed. In all honesty, she looked absolutely stunning, laying there in the moonlight. Somehow, I just knew that it was she who helped me right after I helped her. Unconsciously, without thought, I leaned in close and placed a light kiss on her forehead, silently thanking her for risking her life to save mine.
'Thank you too, Daemon,' she suddenly whispered to me. I jumped slightly, not knowing she was awake. Lily opened her eyes, a beautiful ruby red, and kissed me on the forehead as well.
"What made you do it?" I asked quietly, not wanting to wake up the others.
She shifted guiltily, looked away and blushed. 'You,' she breathed.
"Me?"
She looked back at me, our eyes locking. 'You. You risk so much for us, not even giving a second thought to your own safety, and what you did for that Skarmory made me act on my own, as though something inside me wanted to help as well.'
"I believe that's called bravery, or courage," I replied.
'You have quite a bit of it...but what makes you act so? I wonder...' she drifted off, eyes glancing skyward. I followed suit, and spotted a shooting star.
'Make a wish,' Lily said.
'It's already granted,' I thought unconsciously.
Lily snuggled close to me, wrapping an arm around my torso as we succumbed to sleep.
"Wake up."
You know enough to know the way
Blearily opening my eyes, I saw the face of Sarge, with a look of concern on his face.
Six billion people just one name
"'Sup?" I asked groggily.
(I found)
I found tomorrow in today
"It's not safe here anymore," he started, "We're being tracked."
Adrenaline firing through my veins, I shot up, sleep gone from my system.
Apocalyptic and insane, my dreams will never change
"How and when did you know?"
"I can still sense lifeforms through my limited Psychic abilities. Wake Lily up, she'll be able to sense them clearer."
You wanna be the one in control
"Why not ask Seth?" I queried.
"He knows. He's keeping an eye on the forest around us with his Aura Sight. Now get up, reload your weapon, and let's get moving."
You wanna be the one who's alive
"Lily," I said, rubbing her shoulder gently.
'Mmph...what?' she replied wearily.
"Get up, we need to move. Sarge says we're being tracked."
She opened her eyes, but instead of her natural ruby red, they were a mix of blue and purple.
'Yes, I can sense them. A group of five humans - although I can't tell if they're infected...and they're armed.'
"Damn," I muttered, getting up and moving over to where I dropped DI the day before - still next to the dead soldier. Picking it up, I noticed a glint of metal. Reaching out, I pulled out the soldier's dogtags.
You wanna be the one who gets old
'Hmm...Sarge might need these,' I mused. Sharply pulling on the chain, I ripped the dogtags off the corpse and put them in my pocket. Just then I noticed another object. The soldier's pistol. I picked it up and tucked it into my waistband at the small of my back. Moving back over to Lily and my pack, I rummaged around for another drum magazine for DI, and to my dismay, only found one.
I swore under my breath. "Fuck."
Ejecting the spent mag, I slotted the fresh one in and racked the slide. "Alright, let's move."
Walking along the path, we kept our eyes out for anything suspicious.
"Alex, how far are we from Jubilife?" Seth asked.
Alex checked his Poketch and replied, "Not far now, we just have to go over the next ridge and we'll be able to see it."
"And from there?"
"A short walk. I'd say less than half a click until City limits."
It's not a matter of luck, it's just a matter of time
A sudden rustle of leaves brought our attention to the forest around us.
"Lo...Lopunny..." a lone Lopunny stumbled out of the bushes, clearly in excessive pain.
"Oh my..." Elaine gasped.
Immediately, Sarge went up to the Lopunny and began speaking to it in Poke-speech.
"Sarge?"
"She's hurt. Apparently she got caught in the residual blast from an explosion...and it's burning her from within. Looks like I wasn't the only team dispatched with nuclear devices..."
"I'm sorry, did you say nuclear?" I asked in disbelief.
Stand out on the edge of the earth
"You haven't figured it out already? TNS stands for Tactical Nuclear Squad. We're demolition experts who use extremely clean methods of destroying objects."
Stand out on the edge of the earth
"Seems like these deployments weren't so clean..." I mused.
Sarge shook his head. "Guess not. My guess is that Command deliberately used dirty munitions to combat the virus."
"And now look what happened," Alex spat bitterly.
"I don't like this any more than you. All TNS' are trained with effectiveness and proper use of nuclear devices. How dirty munitions got into our supplies, I'll never know."
"There is one way," I said quietly.
Sarge looked at me with curiosity. "There is? Explain."
Dive into the center of fate
I looked at him. "We ask Command."
Sarge stared at me in shock. "Are you kidding me? We're being followed here, and you want us to reveal our position more?"
Walk right in the sight of a gun
"Not now. We go over to the nearest base and ask there."
"And where would that be?" Seth asked.
"Not that I'm entitled to reveal classified information to civilians, but this is a priority emergency. TNS are strictly supposed to use clean munitions, nothing else. We have to get to the bottom of this before more innocent lives are altered."
Look into the new future's face
"Lopaa!" the Lopunny cried out.
'She's in extreme pain! Can't you do anything to help her?' Lily asked.
"Not when it comes to nuclear poisoning. That can't be cured as far as I know without special equipment - and that equipment is well out of our reach right now."
"So...what's going to happen to her?" Elaine queried.
"There's no alternative to ease her pain..." Sarge said slowly, walking back to the Lopunny, raising his right arm.
I know you know enough to say
"...So there's only one way," he said, stopping just slightly behind and to the left of the Lopunny, his blade extending. "Rest now," he finished, bringing his extended blade to bear, stabbing through the Lopunny's chest.
Lily and Elaine gasped in horror.
"LOPAA!" she cried out, clutching the appendage out of sheer reflex. Blood dripped from the blade as the Lopunny twitched, the life seeping out of her.
"Shhh..." Sarge said. "It'll be all over soon..."
"Lo...Lopaa...ny..." she gasped as she finally passed on.
"I'm so sorry," Sarge said, using a bit of Psychic to remove the Lopunny's body from his blade.
As the body collapsed onto the floor, Lily and Elaine snapped out of their stupor.
'Why? Why couldn't we save her?' Lily asked, tears forming around her eyes.
"As I've said before, all the equipment needed to reverse or slow down the effects of nuclear poisoning are far out from our reach. In the time it would have taken us to get her to a medical facility, she would have already died. I just put her out of her misery. I only hope it was for the better..." he replied, hanging his head.
"But why that way?"
"Would you want to scare her away because one of us drew a gun on her?" I asked bitterly, seeing the truth. "She would've ran and died anyways, but before she did, she would have spent agonizing hours, possibly days, in pain. You did it for the best," I finished, clapping a hand onto Sarge's shoulder.
"Yeah, but still..."
"Lopaa..."
"What the...?"
Me and Sarge froze and slowly turned around.
I know you know enough to play a game
"LOPAA...GAROOOOH!!"
"No..." Sarge said disbelievingly.
'Aww, HELL no!' I thought.
As we finished looking back, we saw the Lopunny...
You wanna be the one in control
Getting up from the floor.
Seth was by our sides in an instant, an Aura Sphere charging in his paws.
You wanna be the one who's alive
I raised DI to shoulder height as Sarge did the same with his XM29.
"Lily," I called back.
'Yes, Daemon?' she answered, worry in her voice.
"Protect everyone else for me, okay?"
'I will.'
"Good," I said, taking aim, "Now let's BRING IT!"
It's not a matter of luck, it's just a matter of time
As soon as I said that, the mutated Lopunny lashed out with its newly-created tentacles, scattering the three of us. Seth retaliated first, launching his Aura Sphere as Sarge and I got to our feet.
'I'll go high, you go low,' Sarge projected.
Making eye contact with him, I acknowledged his suggestion with a nod, then simultaneously fired on the Lopunny - full auto.
Stand out on the edge of the earth
Dive into the center of fate
Walk right in the sight of a gun
Look into the new future's face
The Lopunny, however, had other plans. Taking full use of its superior jumping abilities, it dodged all three attacks. I had to be conservative with my ammunition, however, and only fired two rounds. But when it jumped, I fired off two more rounds as it gained height.
Stand out on the edge of the earth
Dive into the center of fate
Walk right in the sight of a gun
Look into the new future's face
"Hold fire! I got something cooked up," Sarge commanded as he took aim with his weapon.
"What the hell are you going to do with that? Shoot a few Pidgey from the sky?" Alex called out.
"Well, I hope I don't do that accidentally," Sarge replied, "But I hope that this'll get that thing down just the same!"
At that, he pulled the trigger and we all heard a loud thump as a round exited the top barrel of his weapon. Sarge turned to me and grinned.
"Wait for it..." he said.
"Wait for wha-"
BOOM!
I snapped my head up and saw bits and pieces of the mutated Lopunny raining down on us, but all of the pieces bounced off an invisible barrier. I heard a giggle behind me.
'Don't want you guys getting all messed up, do we?' Lily projected.
I rolled my eyes and smirked at Sarge. He grinned back, shouldering his XM29.
"We're not out of the woods yet. The ones following us. They've begun to pick up their pace," Seth said.
Grins turned to frowns all around. "Let's go," I said.
Stand out on the edge of the earth
Dive into the center of fate
Walk right in the sight of a gun
Look into the new future's face
Five minutes of jogging up the hill and we were out of breath.
"Damn, the path is longer than I remember it," I gasped, clutching my side.
Lily floated past, almost flaunting her Psychic prowess in my face with a slight giggle. Flushing, I started chasing her up the hill, but whenever I got close, she giggled again and increased her pace. Soon, we were at the top of the hill, me nearly passing out in the process.
"So...much for...a game, huh, Lily..." I said weakly.
'Daemon,' she replied, fear and concern flooding her voice.
(Stand out on the edge of the earth)
"What?" I asked, curiosity flooding my own voice.
She turned, worry marring her features. 'That soldier...the one who was infected...he wasn't lying.'
"Lying about what?" I enquired, the memory beginning to obscure the present.
'He wasn't lying about anything. Look.'
Mustering up the energy, I walked up to where she stood and took a good long look at Jubilife City...
(emphasised) Stand out on the edge of the earth
...where hordes of infected, both human and Pokemon, wandered in and around the crater where a package detonated, a two-kilometre diameter hole in the ground.
"Arceus..." Sarge had managed to catch up to us and look at the scene before him.
One by one, the rest of the group came up to the ledge and see the horror that was waiting for us.
"We can't go through that," Alex said, beginning to edge away.
Stand out on the edge of the earth
"We have to," Sarge growled, anger clearly present. "I need answers. Why were so many good men, women and Pokemon killed due to either the virus or the military's careless usage of dirty bombs?"
(Look into the new future's face)
"As I've said before, there is a way to know for certain," I reminded him.
Sarge looked at me, resolute in his decision. "And I know where the closest base is."
"But you won't be getting there alive."
Stand out on the edge of the earth
Dive into the center of fate
Walk right in the sight of a gun
Look into the new future's face
Continued in Chapter Five...
___Chapter End Notes:The true horror of the virus comes into play! Now that both human and Pokemon are infected, Daemon and Sarge finally see the path to receive the answers to the epidemic - but who is this new speaker?
- UBE Chie