Uncertainty. That is what often drives us to do horrid things.
The feeling like you have no control over your life, the feeling that you can't do anything for those you care for, the feeling like your whole life is nothing but a lie...

Sometimes, doing something wrong is worse than doing nothing in the first place.

And sometimes, not doing anything is worse than doing something wrong.

So then, what is the right choice?

In the many battles that you face, the enemy if often unclear and invisible.
It walks among the troops, turning comrade against comrade, friend against friend, brother against brother...

Until nothing is left but uncertainty.

When that happens then?

How do you fight what you cannot see?

Three: Uncertainty

Rasputin levitated back and forth in Edgar's room; hands behind his back, deep in thoughts and worries. Every once in a while, he would shoot a glare at Ragde.

Ragde laid lazily by the window, looking at clouds pass by, seemingly preoccupied with other thoughts.
While his mind still detained the same anxiety as his companion, he was far more relaxed than the ghost could ever be.

Both beings were in completely different ends of the spectrum. While Rasputin only got madder as time went by, Ragde, only become more relaxed as time went by. The difference was almost staggering.

Finally, after much deliberation on his part, Rasputin could no longer keep the anger to himself. He stooped in his tracks, turned to face the Sceptile full on, and snapped in anger.
"How!? How in the damn world can you just sit there and do nothing!?" he barked at the wood gecko in annoyance.
Ragde, who up to that point had been mining his own business, turned to face Rasputin's scornful look.
"Are you even remotely worried of what's going on?" asked Rasputin, "Well, ARE YOU!?" he finished with a deep scowl.
Ragde looked at the Banette with tints of displeasure. His eyes were a little watery, and felt drowsy. He wanted nothing but to sit back and relax. He was in no mood to argue with anyone, especially with Rasputin's thickness. Arguing with him was like arguing with a brick wall.
So, without even having to ponder it, he did what he always did when he wanted to avoid getting into long, overcomplicated arguments: He yawned.

Rasputin only fumed at the Sceptiles' apparent lack of care.

After Ragde had finished with his first long yawn, he quickly sat up, crossed his legs, and sighted. He then began to speak in a cool, calm, wise tone.
"You worry too much." He said to the ghost, who simply scoffed. "Sometimes, you just have to sit back, and enjoy the little peace you can get." He raised a hand reassuringly, "Things may seem to be bad. But remember: they could be so much worse. Besides... " He lowered his hand and smiled "Olivia is on it. She'll know what to do; she always does." He stretched his arms into the air, and took another deep yawn as he slowly laid back on the windowsill.
Rasputin, was of course, not convinced at all by what Ragde had just said.

Rasputin was still sure the gecko hid something important from him.
But as mad as Rasputin could be towards Ragde, which he really was at the moment, most of his real antagonistic feelings were stemmed towards one single being:

Gengar.

Rasputin just couldn't shake the fealing that something was wrong with the guy. He was no Gengar; that much he was sure of.
The guy was a fanatical, ruthless, secretive, S.O.B. that had the tendency to make everyone else feel like total scum. He was a psycho; there was no other way to put it. Rasputin shuddered just thinking about what that guy had in his sick mind.

While Rasputin flared with anger towards matters only he himself understood, Ragde merely eyed him with a mixture of amusement, and concern.
As much as he wanted to decipher Rasputin's strange little mind, keeping quiet was the best course of action for him at the moment. Rasputin was known to have a little 'temper' problem; especially when it came to antagonizing Gengar or defending Edgar.
Speaking of which, Rasputin's loyalty and devotion towards Edgar almost blurred the lines; it was almost, if not as strong, as Olivia's own devotion. Had Rasputin been a female Banette, it could well be considered love.

But of course, Olivia's devotion went even deeper than just normal care. That was no secret...

But something always had bothered Ragde. Rasputin tended to act very strangely whenever Edgar was around. He would disappear for hours at a time, became rather shy in his presence, and often tended to hide any weak emotions. It was almost as if Rasputin was hiding something about him, something regarding gender...

The Gecko merely laughed.
"Ha! What are the chances of that! Rasputin actually being a girl!? HA!"

-567400-

"Gengar... What is this place?" asked a staggered Edgar.
He stood in front of a missive ice crystal bridge. Though long on its own right, the bridge was only but a small part of a much grander structure.
The sole fact that the bridge was made of some kind of ice crystal was enough to surprise him, but the thing that really took the price was the fact that the bridge, and adjacent structures, floated in the middle of the black, cold void we call open space. Edgar could not wrap his mind around it, it just seemed like something out of a fantasy novel.

Gengar, who had been watching Edgar's staggered look, merely replied to his question in an unsurprised tone.
"I call this plane 'Eternity'. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't"
"How the hell are we breathing? This is space!" Edgar blurted out with some panic in his voice, "We shouldn't be to breathe at all!" he grasped his own neck. Gengar shrugged his shoulders. "It's a mystery." He smiled as though he knew something secret. He turned and started walking.
Edgar, after looking at the ghost's expression, only kept quiet. He eyed Gengar with deep intrigue. He slowly let go of his neck, and directed his full attention to Gengar's back.

Gengar, though unable to see Edgar's gaze, could feel his eyes study his very anima. He took the hint that one of his little secrets was out of the bag. He sighted, and turned to face the young man.
"Something the matter?" He asked just as unsurprised as before. The young man did not reply immediately, but rather waited about five seconds to do so.
After those five, long seconds had passed; he spoke in a rather distant tone. "...You, you really aren't a Gengar, aren't you?"
Gengar smiled once again. He was the one who stayed quiet for a few seconds this time. After yet another five seconds on suspense, he spoke.
"... Yeah. I guess I'm not." He replied in an amused tone, "so much for keeping that little secret underground."
"What are you then?" Edgar asked r in a mellow tone, "Since that unfortunate incident, my body has not been the only thing to change; my senses have sharpened up greatly. Ever since then, not only have I sensed incredible amount of anima energy radiate from you, I've also gotten this strange fealing... Like I know you from the past or something."
Gengar smiled yet again. Edgar could only wonder why Gengar's face was not sore from so much smiling.
"That may be entirely possible." He replied with some amusement in his voice, "Certain cultures believe in resurrection. This plane alone proves that."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Edgar in confusion, "This place looks like... Empty, dark, outer space."
Gengar merely shook his head. A wide smirk still carved on his visage. "That is because you are not looking in the right direction." He pointed his finger behind Edgar's back. "Turn around, and see for yourself what I mean." Edgar, who had been facing the wrong end of the crystal bridge, turned around to find an incredible sight before his eyes.

Before him was what could only be described as a broken up planet. Half of it had been torn apart, blasted into a million free-floating pieces of land and ice that littered the otherwise empty void. The rest of the planet was barely held together by what appeared to be structures of ice crystals.
Many of the small islands were connected to the main world by bridges of ice, platforms of metal, and chains of ice and metal. Massively long chains of rusted metal also chained several orbs of energy to what remained of the planet. These orbs appeared to have gravity of their own, for smaller chunks of matter circled around them at high speeds. Several of these orbs had rings similar to those on Saturn.

Edgar's jaw was literally on the floor. Never in his life had he seen anything like it, not even in his dreams.
Gengar, who had been standing silently, suddenly felt an all too familiar sorrow fill his soul. He sighted in depression as he stated telling an old story.
"Long, long ago... Before life on earth was what it is today, this was the world of the so called gods." He once again returned to his normal tone. Edgar, who had been up to that point, busy admiring the broken world, turned to face Gengar in intrigue.
"Humans gave this place many different names: Olympus, Heaven, Valhalla, paradise, the beyond, etc." He crossed his arms, "and humans might have been right to believe so. This world was very peaceful." Gengar frowned, "But those who seek power, often unravel everything in their path." he smiled evilly, "the inhabitants of this world ended up killing most of themselves in the end. Does it sound familiar?" he asked the ghost with a smirk on his face.
Edgar, who had been paying close attention to everything Gengar had said, merely shook his head.
"They were no different than humanity is now, right?" asked Edgar in a sad tone. Gengar merely nodded. Edgar sighted. "And that is what brought their own downfall."
"Right, but also wrong." Replied Gengar. He walked towards the edge of the bridge, and took a look at the broken world.
"Right because these beings had powers and technology far greater than it was imaginable. Those who have great power are often seen as gods in the eyes of those who don't have power." He turned to face the young man "But that was not what led to their own destruction." Gengar pointed at his own head, "It was their egos."
"Egos?" asked Edgar. Gengar merely laughed.
"Yes, egos." Replied Gengar, "They got too full of themselves. With all the power they wielded, it was only a matter of time until they all turned on each other for more. Before anyone could stop the chain reaction..." Gengar's face was suddenly filled with anger. "It was all over. But even that is not the real truth!"
"You mean there is more to this story?" Edgar asked confusion. Gengar nodded.
"There is always more to a story than just what is told."
"Are you referring to Arceus?" asked Edgar in doubt. Gengar only shook in anger at the moniker. Gengar took on a whole new look as soon as Arceus' name was brought out. He became much darker in color, face turned to a seemingly permanent scowl, and voice, though already quite harsh, turned even harsher.
Gengar replied in a tone that gave Edgar chills. "Yes...." Gengar's fist were clutched to tightly, they were beginning to draw blood.
"He was born on this world. And lived here until he was about sixteen in human years. After that, he left. He made Earth his new home. There he had found someone he deeply cared for. Someone he was willing to break the law for..."
"Law, what law?"
"The law that prevented anyone from leaving this world. The same law that sealed the fate of everyone living here." Replied Gengar in the outmost sense of anger and sorrow. He seemed to be in the verge of blind rage.
"Who was this being Arceus was willing to break the law for then?" Edgar asked with some curiosity, though he was beginning to become wary of Gengar's reaction.
Gengar closed his eyes, and replied in a neutral tone.
"Nemo. Her name was Nemo."
"Nemo? Who is Nemo? I've never heard of such a deity."
"Nemo was..." Gengar took a deep sigh, "someone Arceus cared much about. She was HIS wife, and mother of Ixol." Gengar replied. He seemed to have emphasized the 'him' part, almost as if he hating referring to that particular being.
Edgar only seemed to become more confused as the conversation continued.
"Ixol? Nemo? Who are these people? How come I have never heard of them?" Asked Edgar in deep perplexity. He crossed his arms and gave Gengar a look of uncertainty. Gengar merely scoffed at him, and began to walk forward, leaving the young man behind. Edgar noticed this sudden display of anger, and started running behind the ghost. "Hey! Wait up! Where are you going?"
"Nowhere apparently." Gengar said. He stopped, Allowing Edgar to catch up to him. Edgar's face was full of puzzlement at the Ghost. Never had he seen Gengar become so flustered.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" he asked, "Are you ok?"
"NO I AM NOT OK!" replied Gengar with outmost fury at the young man. Edgar took a step back in fear, but managed to keep his face straight. He spoke in a firm tone at Gengar.
"There is something you're not telling me. Who are Nemo and Ixol? What do they have to do Arceus and this world? I demand to know now!" he shouted at Gengar, whose face had turned quite sour by now.
"Some things are best left unknown human." He replied with a deep glare at Edgar, who was now frozen in place with sudden surprise and shock. "You will live longer that way." He finished.
"What are you talking about?" Edgar managed to reply with caution. Gengar merely sneered. His face had now turned to a twisted, evil smile.
"One day... you'll know. But for now..." Gengar placed a finger on Edgar chest. "Not knowing is your best bet!" he finished with a raised, amused tone.

Suddenly, and without any warning, an extraordinary amount of force struck Edgar square across the chest. It was such a physically powerful blow, He felt as though a freight train going five hundred miles an hour had just struck him.
Every single one of his ribs screamed in agony, it felt as though they had all been shattered beyond repair. The force flung him backwards several feet, much like a rag doll.
The young man crashed into a pillar head first, which then shattered into a million pieces on impact.
Gengar walked up to the now unconscious Edgar, face still twisted in a scowl. "Some things are best left unknown..." He turned around and walked away.

Gengar walked towards the end of the bridge, towards an arch of some kind. He took a look back towards the unconscious young man, and sighted.
"He won't be going anywhere for a while. I'll just leave him here."
He turned his face forwards and kept walking towards the arch.
"If he does manage to control both his infection and powers, then I will have what I have been looking for... but if he doesn't... I'll have no other choice." He frowned, "I'll have to kill him myself."

-567400-

Ragde stared blankly out the window, towards the tranquil blue sky. He could not help but sight with remorse. Even though he tried to act like things where ok, He knew deep down that things were far from ok.
Events were reaching the critical point of no return, and once they did, he knew well that things would change for the worse.
What Edgar was going through, though painful and torturous, paled in comparison to what was really happening the world over.
So much suffering, so much death, so much hatred... it was as if the end of days were already here. Who had let the horsemen out?

The reason why Ragde knew these things was because he could read and write; something forbidden for all pokemon, Pk-noids and morphs in the southern continents.
It had taken him years, to finally learn the language, thanks to Olivia's own intelligence and bookwormness, Edgar's coaching, and his strong determination.
Though almost impossible for his kin, he had managed to do it. It was something he was both proud of, and regretful of.
He was proud, because he had done something no one expected of him at all. He had proved that anything was truly possible, so long as you're willing to fight for it. He could now call himself a human's equal, weather they liked it or not.

But he was more regretful of what he had become. For in trying to be something he was not, he ended up loosing the only thing he really was.
For no matter how much he knew, how much he was willing to fight, how much he was willing to sacrifice; he was still nothing in the eyes of most humans.
And so long as he lived in the southern continents, he would remain nothing.

Ragde clutched his hands in irritation. For one of the few times in his life, anger surged through his body and mind.
" Is this really who I am? What happened to all I had grown up from!? What happened to me!?" He closed his eyes. His heart ached for all he had lost, his soul bleed for all that he still longed for... things he knew would never return.
His eyes remained closed for several minutes. Then, all of a sudden, he smiled.
His eyes were filled with the kind of amusement only those who have lost everything can be filled with. His smile only grew wider.
"I have gotten soft. That's what happen." He began to mutely laugh. It was as if a weight of some kind had been lifted from his spirit.
Suddenly, just as quickly as it had come, Ragde's smile faded. "My family would kill me if they saw me now." He found himself even more distraught than ever before in his life.
No matter how he looked at it, no matter how much he tried to lie to himself; he was no longer welcome back home. His old home was now nothing but a bitter memory of the past now. A past that still haunted him.

Ragde scoffed to himself just as the memories began to flood back in.
"Like I care what a bunch of decrepit Sceptiles think of me now! They were the ones who exiled me!" He scoffed once more.

Ragde could not help but feel the similarities between his past and present, and the current state of mother Gia. Both him and the world had had seen better days, and both desperately searched for a brighter tomorrow.
A tomorrow that was, sadly, uncertain at best.
At least he still had a home and friends; others in the world were not so lucky. Some had nothing left. All of it lost to modernization, war, genocide, hatred, and death...

But Ragde knew well that there were fates worse than death.

So much for the great unity of life.

Almost no one in the world really gave a damn about the planet anymore. Too most humans and pokemon, the rest of Mother Gia was nothing but a source of the much-needed capital to grow, expand, and conquer.
Human and pokemon natures have not changed one bit over the many epochs. They still take what they need, and give nothing back. Old habits do die hard.

And so, as the world continued it's slow path to perdition, apathy, cynicism, damnation, and utter annihilation. Ragde continued to lay in the window, and do nothing about it.
Humans had once preached about how they were created in god's image, and how that gave them superior standing in the world and all its creatures.
But once they actually took the role of gods; they only managed to make a truly amusing mess of things. Just look at the Rockets or Ciphers if you need an example.

Pokemon where just like humans in that sense. They often presented themselves as the ultimate protectors of nature. A job that, according to them, was appointed by the ancient spirits of the world and the almighty Arceus.
But just like humans, when they took the job... It was the same story all over again.

It was so disappointing; it was hilarious.
Ragde, who had been quite depressed up to this point, could not help but burst into laughter.
True, it was all really sad and depressing. But all the same, it was darkly hilarious. The ultimate irony in many ways.

Ragde only continued to laugh out loud.

---

Rasputin, who had been deep in his own thoughts, could not help but notice the Sceptile's sudden fit of laughter. He wondered what the hell had come over the guy, but he himself could not think of anything. So he merely scowled at Ragde.
"What the hell has gotten into you?" he asked in both annoyance and curiosity
"Nothing!" Replied Ragde. He tried his best to keep a straight face, but just ended up bursting into more laughter. Ragde held to his stomach, and threw his head back in mad hilarity. He seemed ready to bust a gut.
Rasputin, eying Ragde with the outmost annoyance now, scoffed at his attitude. "THAT shows how much you really care." The ghost turned around and floated towards the door. Before he opened it, he directed his scowling gaze at the Sceptile one last time.
As he glared at him, the door swung open with intense, unnatural force. Rasputin only continued his glare at the still laughing Sceptile.
"You can stay here and laugh all you want." He said with deep anger, "I'm going back to the hospital." And with those words of scorn, Rasputin turned around and left the room. The door once again swung close as soon as he was out.

Ragde only kept laughing.

---

"WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS!? Laughing like he doesn't have a care in the damn world!" Rasputin yelled to himself as he neared the front door of the manor. He was still fuming at Ragde's sudden lack of care. His hands shook with fury; he wanted nothing but to beat the freaking wood gecko into a pulp. "I otta keelhaul the bastard!" He shouted out loud, hoping to catch Ragde's attention.

As Rasputin got ready to open the front door, the doorbell suddenly rang. He paused for a moment, wondering who it could be.
If it was jay or Cyrus, he would have to explain the situation, something he would much rather try to avoid. If it were someone else, then they would be pretty much out of luck, unless they could speak his language that is.
The doorbell rang once more; whoever was outside was clearly getting inpatient. Rasputin cleared his voice and opened the front door, ready to greet whoever it was.

Rasputin slowly opened the front door, and was met by an extremely tall, hulk-like man. His body completely defied normal human anatomy.
He stood at almost eleven feet tall, body as broad and heavy looking as a dragonite, almost five feet across. The man could very well be a human-tank hybrid, or a dragonite half-bred, you take you pick.
The man's hair was blonde whitish. More white than blonde. It was quite long, and held down by a German style war helmet which cast a menacing shadow over the man's eyes. His skin was as pale as that of a corpse. His face was riddled with scars, and eyes that were as pitch black as the shadows of night. His pupils were a clear white. Almost as if the man was blind. A small lone white dot stood in their center.
The man's getup appeared to be of military origin. It was a gigantic metallic looking trench coat. The cloth-like parts of the coat were connected to a few heavy looking black steel plates located on the man's shoulders, back, and waistband. The rest of the coat was dark green in color. It had several black emblems printed on the metal plates.
While many of the emblems were unknown to Rasputin, he did recognize on of them. That of Sinnoh's military force. Special ops force: Ripper.

Rasputin was shocked by the man's physical appearance, but what shocked him the most was the man's extremely powerful anima.
It was a dark, evil, frightful, vile energy the likes of which Rasputin had only imagined in his worst nightmares. It was so vile... It almost chocked him.

No normal human had such Anima, not even the most evil men alive.

Rasputin gulped. He slowly took several steps back into the manor, eyes glued to the man's evil gaze. His presence almost chocked the very oxygen off his lungs.
The man smiled a toothy smile at Rasputin's sudden alarm. He seemed to be enjoying the sudden terror inflicted on the Banette.
The man's eyes began to glow in a sinister black color before Rasputin's horror struck look. Then, before Rasputin could even register the events occurring before his eyes, before he could do anything at all for that matter, he found himself face first against the floor. His conscious slowly slipping away.

Seconds later, after all of his struggling proved futile, Rasputin finally fell unconscious. The man's smile turned back to a grimace the moment Rasputin loss his consciousness.
The man turned to face the rest of the house, and rubbed his chin with a massive hand. The giant then picked up the unconscious Banette of the ground, and threw him over his shoulder. He slowly walked out the manor. Where he was met by dozens of men dressed in full body armor. as soon as his sight met with the soldiers, he began to scream out orders in his dark, demonic tone.
"SEARCH THE HOUSE. KILL ANYONE WHO GETS IN YOUR WAY."

-567400-

"Two hours, and still no word from checkpoints two and three. What the hell is going on?" asked Sectran in rage.
"Me thinks they ran into trouble." A young female voice replied to his remark, "If only I had been there..." She finished with a sultry, childish, musical tone. Her face beamed with an 'I told you so' look.
Sectran, who had been walking back and forth in anxiety, turned to face his second in command, and shook his head at the sight of the young Belatrix.
She was dressed in a full set of female battle armor, (magenta color), carried two assault rifles in her back, and had four deadly looking SMGs holstered to her hip, and chest. And almost always seemed happy about something, especially if it had to do with guns.
She was 17 years of age, stood at about 5.10 feet, was fresh out of high school, and was a gun happy Ambipom morph. Her eyes were dark brown, her hair and fur a vivid purple color, eyes shinny and charming, that were mellow when idle, but fierce when active. Her eyes seemed as though they could perceive just about everything that went on around them, and maybe even a few things no one else saw. All her features went rather well with her waist long purple hair, extremely alluring body figure, gentle but attractive eyes, and rather provocative outfit. (The armor's skirt barely covered her panties) But if that was not enough, Belatrix always had her trump card: her gaze.
Her gaze glowed with such charm and blamelessness, that it could make even the toughest man stop in its track just to revere them. At least revere them long enough for Belatrix to put several bullets into the guy's skull.

Belatrix always solved her problems with guns and bullets. Ever since she was a little girl.
Belatrix's youth was filled with many things. But the one thing she loved and still loves the most is firearms, and the mechanics that go with it. Growing up with gunsmith parents, watching tons and tons of gun related movies, building her own 9mm. USP pistol at the age of ten, and having two older brothers in the military, only caused her to love guns even more. But it just wasn't guns were her skills lay; Belatrix was also a mechanical wiz, second to none in many cases. But Belatrix
Lived mostly for shootouts and target practice, Even though she loved to make, modify, and create new weapons just as the same.
These hobbies always brought a slightly twisted smile to her very attractive face.
While other girls of her own age worried about makeup, dates, and fashion, she only worried about recoil kick, bullet penetration, and how to cram as much ammunition into the smallest gun possible. She always was coming up with new gun designs and modification, not to mention crazy contraptions that may or may not work.
Of course, that did not by any means; mean that the young men in her high school thought she was ugly, unattractive, or too nerdy to date. On the contrary, she was considered one of the hottest, sexiest, attractive, most desirable and intelligent girls in all her school. She was voted as prom queen, given numerous recognitions for her mechanical skills, got the most boys to willingly (some would say gladly) sing her yearbook, and was the girl to look up to if you were an outcast, and the girl to scorn if you were one of them 'princesses'.
All of that, without even trying. The sole fact that she knew her guns and mechanics well only drew young men in like moths to the light. She had every right to smile whenever she did. Had she really wanted it, she could have had a date for every night of the year, and maybe even a few for the next year.

Last, but certainly not least, were her two tail extremities. Two, Three red tipped hand like extensions that were actually quite dexterous, and dangerous to boot. Each hand could hold on to a deadly gauss SMGs, or an assault rifle. But the hands were also used for other purposes, other than just shooting guns. The things those babies could do ranged from: punching, blocking, and grabbing on to things, to dodging, acrobatics, and even break dancing.
Belatrix's tail hands gave her quite the mobility.

Denying it was futile for Belatrix. She was the very definition of 'fame fatale'. Four, fully loaded gauss SMGs with added grenade launchers for good measure, two extra gauss assault rifles ready to shoot nonstop, lots and lots of 2mm CE caliber ammunition to waste on some unlucky bastard, and Sectran's own superb firepower and skill to complement her own.

Yes, She was like a frenzied; trigger happy, female Rambo (Minus the muscle stretch marks).

---

Though Belatrix normally kept a smile on her face at all times, today was the exception; her normal wide smile was a turned into a frown.
Sectran had ordered she stay behind with him, and that made her very cheerless. She just loved to go out on patrol. That was the best time to stretch her legs and possibly take a few shots at random things.

Sectran knew Belatrix was a very gun happy girl. Though he of course, could not blame her for liking guns as much as she did: guns were awesome! And he too loved to shot stuff into oblivion. But he at least knew when it was the right time to target practice; and right now, was not the best time to go trigger-happy on anything, real or not.

Sectran stood in front of the mainframe computer. He had gotten the info they had all come for long ago. So, he just waited for the rest of his platoon to check in.
A platoon he had heard nothing from since the split up. All Sectran could hear from
The intercom was static.
Something was wrong, he had five bars of signal, there was no excuse for him to not get a line trough.

"Dammit! Someone, anyone, respond!" He shouted for the hundredth time into the intercom, but just like other ninety-nine times, it was no use. Dead silence was all that replied to his call.
Belatrix laughed at Sectran's futile attempts to get communications going. She always giggled whenever things went wrong for him. It was her own way of having some fun in an otherwise, boring mission.
Sectran, who had endured Belatrix's nonsense since she had joined the squad, was becoming quite irritated at her overall silliness. Today, he had no time for any of that bull.
He turned around to face Belatrix, who was leaning against the wall, cleaning and loading one of her four SMGs, and took a deep breath. Belatrix knew what was coming. Her smile merely turned wider.
"What the hell is so damn funny!?" Sectran yelled at her in anger, "Can't you take something serious for at least one damn day!?" His mask prevented Belatrix from seeing the real extend of his menacing scowl.
Belatrix only sneered stylishly, as if she had seen this a thousand times in the past. But she did not utter a single word.
Sectran, after only waiting five seconds for a reply, only shook his head hopelessly.
"Why do I even bother!" he said out loud, frowning heavily, "like I would expect you to take any of this seriously..." He groaned in unhappiness.
Belatrix only giggled in a playful manner as she walked up towards him alluringly. Sectran could feel some goose bumps rise up his spine. Belatrix spoke as she walked closer towards him, her tone of voice was chock full of slyness, mischievousness, and hidden meanings.
Sectran only gulped nervously.
"Things would not be so bad if you would have let me go with the rest of the platoon you know." Belatrix said, as she stood right next to him. She blinked at Sectran several times in an enthralling manner. Sectran merely gave her his back, mumbling nonsense under his breath. He was starting to get pissed. Belatrix giggled even more blissfully as she began to slowly circle the young commander, much like a vulture looking for a fresh corpse.
"Oh you silly man!" Belatrix said playfully, "Don't you think it would have been wise to send your second in command to check things out?"
"Don't tell me how to run my outfit!" He yelled at her the moment her sentence had finished, "I have far more experience than you do." he finished by waving his hand forward, as if he was slapping the air.
"Yet you still make the same mistakes over and over again." Belatrix sang to an angered Sectran.
"NO I DON'T! I-" Sectran started screaming, but paused abruptly. Belatrix had stopped walking circles around him. Now, she merely stood in front of his face, expression full of malice, she raised one of her eyebrows. She was up to no good.
She proceeded to slowly lean towards Sectran's face, her own visage still holding a sultry expression and smile.
Sectran himself began to lean backwards, to avoid what most would have considered a kiss attempt. Once Belatrix was close enough to Sectran's face, she sneered even wider. "Ok though guy." She smiled even wider, "Tell me then; why am I the only one who ends up fixing all the problems around here? Huh?" Belatrix's face beamed with certain victory. Sectran began to nervously sweat under his mask.
Belatrix's sweet peppermint breath, playful, bubbly attitude, and alluringly, screaming hot body, only served to multiply Sectran's sense of awkwardness further. Sectran began to slowly feel the all too strong desire to mate...

But he would not fall into temptation.

He leaned forward swiftly, so that Belatrix was the one leaning back now. He pointed his finger at Belatrix's face.
"GET OFF OF ME WOMAN!!" He screamed straight into her face. He lowered his hand, turned his back towards her, and stood in place, arms crossed. He could feel shivers run down his body after what he had done. A strange sense of satisfaction filled his soul.
Belatrix's only reply was a playful chuckle. Not at all what Sectran had expected.
"I am still waiting for your answer." She sang in a playful tone yet again.
Sectran could sincerely not think of any kind of comeback. He was stumped, served, owned.

He hated to admit it, and I do mean HATE IT; but he could not lie to himself. Without Belatrix's management, as annoying as it often got, he was pretty much doomed on his own.

Belatrix took Sectran's silence as his answer. She smiled, "You don't have to admit it if you don't want to." She giggled maliciously, "But then again, you don't have to. Because I already know." Belatrix snickered some more as she walked away, towards the wall she had been leaning on earlier. Sectran could only grumble under his breath.

Belatrix could be most annoying female in the world when she wanted to be.

But even Sectran could not deny the appeal of her body...

If Belatrix weren't so crazy and young, he would so hit it. And hit it harder than the wrath of an angry god to boot.

---

"OH GOD! STAY AWAY FROM ME!!" Screamed a horrorstruck soldier, "AHHHHHH!!!" He yelled in terror. He had no chance in hell. His head was smashed against the nearest wall. It was too dark to see, all that could be heard was a sickening splash.

Soldier after soldier was killed without any mercy whatsoever.

Another soldier was sliced in half by an indistinguishable ethereal blade, both halves disappearing in the murk, only a blood puddle showed the sings of his death. Another soldier screamed in terror as he was dragged into the darkness, his nails dug into the very concrete. As soon as he was covered in the dark, more bone cracking could be heard. Another unfortunate soul was lifted off the ground towards the ceiling, where he vanished. Second later, a sound much like a water balloon pooping was heard, followed by the sound of dripping blood.
Something was destroying the squad, and none of the soldiers could fight back.
It was like combating a ghost.

Several minutes of screaming and death later, only one soldier remained standing. He shook in place harder than a massage chair. He took shaky aim into the darkness at the slightest sight of movement, and pulled the trigger of his assault rifle. The muzzle flashes briefly illuminated the darkness, allowing him short views of the dead and the dying.
All around him were the torn bodies of his comrades, all killed or dying without even realizing what had hit them. Guts and blood were spilled all over the floor. It was like something out of a bad nightmare...
The soldier continued to fire into the barrenness, bullet after bullet recoiled against every wall. His soul was filled with dread, his eyes, wide open in panic. His breaths, heavy and shallow.
A sinister growl echoed trough the room. The soldier shook with fear as the last of his bullets exited the rifle barrel. The bullet screeched in the darkness as it flew towards the dark void, finally vanishing from sight.

Then, the room grew eerily quiet. The only source of noise was the young soldier.

The soldier panted and wheezed in exhaustion. Sweat dripped down his face, he could feel the demonic presence in the room with him, but could not see it, even with thermal goggles, nothing came into his view. The silence was more than enough to unnerve even the most seasoned of warriors.

The suspense was just too much to bear.

Suddenly, a soft, steady stream of footsteps broke the silence. The soldier stood his ground, more and more sweat dripped down his face. His eyes grew even wider and wider as the footsteps grew stronger and stronger.
The soldier found, much to his horror, that he could not move an inch. He was filled with too much foreboding to do anything.
Closer and closer the footsteps neared. It sounded as if the devil himself came for his soul. The footsteps continued to be heard; they were right behind his back. He shook with utter panic, his perspiration got ice cold, and it began to run down his face and back like water, sending chills down his very soul.
Then, just as suddenly as they had started, the footsteps ceased.
The soldier slowly turned his head to face the horror, but he instead found nothing but empty air.
Just as the soldier's gaze turned back to his front, a deep, growl rang in his ear. It froze his blood.

The soldier could not do anything other than scream, as his chest was ripped open. His organs rearranged on the spot.

His loud scream of death carried on for several miles into the complex. It echoed off every wall.

---

A sharp scream brought both Sectran and Belatrix back down to earth. They both turned towards the source of the sound, and saw nothing but obscurity.
Sectran holstered both his SMGs, pointed them directly at the dusk, and nodded at Belatrix, who did the same for her four SMGs. She held two on her hands, and two on her tails hands. She smiled with glee.
They both slowly walked towards the dark hall. An eerie silence was all that greeted them at first, but that was soon broken as bang after bang rang trough the hall. Sectran and Belatrix both stood their ground, guns ready to fire at the slightest hint of danger. Every second that passed seemed like hours as they both stared blank eyed into the forbidding darkness.
Suddenly, to Sectran's horror, Belatrix was picked off the ground by an unseen force. Belatrix fired her guns into the air by instinct, hoping to hit whatever had taken hold of her, but it was to no avail. The force slammed and tossed Belatrix around like a rag doll, smashing her against the walls, roof, and floor. She grunted and screamed in pain. Sectran could not fire his guns, for fear of striking her instead of the assailant.
Belatrix was smashed a total of twenty times before she was lunched across the hall, towards the computer room, straight at the wall.
Upon impact, Belatrix let out a sharp scream of pain and fear as her body dug deep into the wall itself, which then collapsed, trapping her body under tons of ruble and rocks.

Sectran's eyes grew wide as he watched his second in command disappear in a cloud of dust and an avalanche of stone. His hands shook with both utter fury, and some distress.
"BELATRIX!!!" He shouted over the room to her, but no reply followed. Sectran knew that she was most likely dead.

She was so young, so full of life...

Sectran growled in fury. He turned his attention to the front of the hall, dead set of riddling whoever had killed Belatrix with bullets, but he was instead met with an attack dead to the face.
The young commander managed to avoid the potentially deadly swipe from the ghostly blade just in the nick of time. But just as he barely avoided the first strike, a second, attack directed at his legs tried to hit him.
Sectran quickly jumped backwards by sheer instinct, doing a flip in mid air. This caused the attack to miss him entirely, hitting the wall behind him.
A loud crash echoed through the hall as dust and rock were lifted into the air. Sectran fell on his feet, ducked, and readied his guns, aiming directly in front of him, where the attack had originated. But the dust made it impossible to get a clear shot.
Sectran, though unable to see clearly, could just faintly make out a humanoid figure in the dust. Though impossible to hit dead on, he took the shots anyway, hoping to scare whoever was attacking him into the open. The bullets passed through the air, missing their targets by mere inches.
"SHIT!" Cursed Sectran as the figure dove out of his sight to avoid more gunfire.
As soon as the dust began to settle, he was once again left to stare at the air. Whoever had been in the dust was completely gone. Sectran only reloaded his SMGs. He would not be couth dead without ammo.

Though Sectran managed to avoid the first two strikes aimed at his body, the third strike hit its target dead on: his face.
Sectran was sent flying backwards with great force, towards the computer terminal he had accessed earlier.
He spun in the air like a screw until his head made contact with the computer, which he smashed into, destroying it beyond repair in the process.

Sectran vanished in the fireball that followed.

-567400-

A young man stood in front of the huge white building. Its sing contained both a red cross and a pokeball. It was the hospital/ Pokemon center.
The young man's name was Cyrus, he had messy brunet hair tied back in a ponytail, lightly tanned skinned, a pair of thick glasses, and a rather worn out lab coat. The young man had the very scent of science all around him.
He looked down at his wristwatch, and smiled.
It was about 2:01 Pm, he had made great time.

He had only recently heard the news about Edgar from his father, Seth and his younger brother, Jay. He still found himself dumbfounded at what had occurred to his friend. What in the world had driven Edgar to do such a stupid thing? It was not like him to do something so... reckless, even though the guy was pretty thick when it came to such actions.

Walking about five feet behind Cyrus was a fully clocked figure. It wore what looked like monk garments. The being spoke in a soft, delicate, weak tone of voice that made it seem quite fragile.
"Something is wrong. I can feel it."
Cyrus nodded in agreement.
"Something is up. I saw no one on the way here. That is the very definition of odd." He turned to face the hooded being, "You sure it was a good idea to come here alone?"
"Yes." Replied the hooded being. "Now is the best time."
Cyrus smiled, "Yeah. I guess it's best that no one else knows. Dad would murder me if I injured one of his priced experimental subjects after all." Cyrus smiled once more. The being merely chuckled. Its face was covered in darkness, making it impossible to see the being's true reaction.
"Are you sure that is the only reason?" The being asked in an intrigued tone, "Is that the why we walked all the way here in plain sight?" it asked with some tints of sarcasm. Cyrus laughed.
"Well, when you put it that way..." he laughed.
"As you can see, no one was even on the streets. Besides," He moved his glasses, "if you want to hide a pine tree, place it in a pine forest."
"Except this pine forest is bare. And I happen to be a different specie of tree; an apple tree, not a pine tree."
The being was the one to laugh this time, and Cyrus joined in.

Both of them walked pass the hospital's main entrance, and into the reception desk, which was empty.
Cyrus' gut began to whine. He knew something was wrong by just looking at the place, it was darker than usual, and was way too empty.

The place looked deader than a like a graveyard.

Cyrus turned to face his companion, who nodded at his gaze.
"Lets find that stupid fool and get out of here. I got this bad feeling all of a sudden." Cyrus said. The being only nodded in agreement.

Both walked up the empty hall, unaware that something was watching their every step.

-567400-

Sectran groaned in misery as he slowly came back to his senses. He slowly got up, busting his way out of the ruined computer. Twisted metal and electrical wires were all wrapped around him, making his endeavor the more difficult to accomplish. A sharp pain kept buffeting his face; blood ran underneath his mask, it slowly dripped into the floor.
Eventually, after tearing and pushing his way out, Sectran managed to stand up straight, and painfully jump out of the wreck. He barely managed to land on his feet, for pain and soreness quickly rose up his body. He was barely managing to maintain his balance as it was. He grunted as he held on to his leg, which was twisted in the wrong way. With much struggling and agony, he managed to place the dislocated limb back in its rightful position. The pain on the leg eased, but his body still ached like hell. He felt like had had just gone ten rounds with a tyranitar, and loss.

Sectran's recovery was very short lived. Not even a minute had passed after he had managed jump out of the computer wreck, when he was stricken yet again by the same unseen sword. But this time, Sectran was ready for it.
Using his two SMG bayonet attachments as a shield, he managed to catch whatever kind of blade had been swung at him. He struggled to just keep it steady.
Sectran, right away noticed the 'sword' was made up of psychic energy. It was a psycho cut attack; there was no question in Sectran's mind. Whatever or whoever was attacking him was either pokemon in nature, could use certain pokemon abilities, or was some kind of freaking machine.
Sectran put his money on a pokemon-like being.

The force of the attack slowly pushed Sectran backwards. He struggled to just maintain his footing, barely able to do it. He was being pushed back to strongly to maintain a firm grip on the ground, not that it mattered anyway, for his feet dug into the very concrete as the force of the attack relentlessly pushed him back towards the wall and computer wreck.
If Sectran broke stance now, he would most likely be sliced in half. But if he kept holding the attack back, he would bust his arm muscles. And then most likely be cut in half. There was very little he could do. But he would not die so easily. Belatrix would be avenged. It was all that ran past his mind at the moment.

With every passing second, Sectran lost more and more of his strenght and balance. He figured he only had a good few minutes left before he lost all his strenght.
"So much for a good god damned day!" He thought irritably to himself.
Much to his dismay, his balance began to give out. Though he struggled, it was no use in the end. He was pushed backwards with great force. He tripped over the raised concrete, and fell backwards. The psycho cut blade followed suit.

As soon as Sectran hit the floor, he raised his two SMGs for protection. The psycho cut attack and the bayonets clashed, they sparkled and gave off a bright light, enough to almost blind Sectran.
This momentary stop gave Sectran enough time to think of a way to avoid the inevitably deadly attack. Though Sectran held the two guns up with valiant strenght, the psycho cut attack was just too strong for his bayonets to hold. Both SMGs and bayonets were sliced in half. This small twist of fate, though bad and costly, was just what Sectran had been waiting for. It gave him just enough time to avoid the potentially fatal strike directed at his being.
Without hesitating, he quickly rolled to the left. Causing the attack to miss his body by mere millimeters. It continued its way into the floor, carving a neat mark in the ground.
Sectran then rolled back on his back, just in time to catch a quick glimpse of yet another ethereal attack aimed at him. Sectran moved quickly. By lifting his legs upwards, pushing his weight behind his body, and using his hands to flip, he raised himself of the ground like an acrobat, dodging the attack altogether.
With that action alone, he had managed to not only avoid the fatal blow, but also plant a powerful kick square in the assailant's translucent body.
Sectran could hear a groan, followed by a dull thud on the floor. Sectran finished his handstand, and jumped back on his feet.
Before he had even hit the ground, he had pulled out his last two remaining guns from their holsters: a pair of modified type-17 Mauser pistols he had dubbed 'type-18s'. He took careful aim, pulled the triggers, and fired round after round of shots mercilessly at the ground, where he had heard the dull thud.
The spot on was riddled with shot after shot. Sectran's guns glowed a faint blue color as he seemingly fired hundreds of rounds into the floor, never reloading a single time.

After a minute of continuous, merciless gunfire, Sectran's guns loss their bluish glow, and clicked. He panted in exhaustion, as if he had just run a marathon. Blood continued to drip down his face as if it was sweat.
The spot where Sectran had fired his guns was nothing but a crater now, he wondered if he had gotten his target, but that question was quickly answer as a no. The young commander was struck in the back quite strongly; so strong in fact, he was tossed forward, dropping both his guns in the process.
Sectran flipped trough the air before smashing into the nearest wall, leaving a reasonably big hole in his wake. Sectran slowly pulled himself out of the wall, pain covering his full body now; one of his arms was going numb. Even though he could still move it, he did not give it long before the arm fell sleep. He growled.
"How the hell am I supposed to fight something I can't even see!?" Sectran cursed to himself as he slowly got up. He grunted in pain, his training had never covered fighting invisible enemies.
He had to find a way to even the odds, and quick. He had no idea how long he could hold out before he fainted from pain and fatigue. But how would he even the odds?

Just then, Sectran noticed that his attacker was not fully invisible anymore. The figure sparked every so often with electrical flashes.
That is when Sectran realized what he was really fighting. He was going up against someone or something wearing that new type of clocking exoskeleton armor he wanted so badly.
The new, state of the art armor projected an electrical field around the wearer that, when mixed with the reactive materials the armor was made of, caused said matter molecules to react in a particular fashion.
The armor materials, when active, became like a clean sheath of glass; all types of light just passed trough it without any type of reflection. That meant that whoever was wearing the thing, was literally rendered invisible to the naked eye.
Sectran's shots however, seemed to have slightly damaged the main control panels of the exoskeleton. The being only stood in place, unaware that he was becoming visible with every passing second. If Sectran could only place one, good armor piercing shot, he could disable the enemies' invisibility advantage, and possibly do some massive damage as well. He looked at both his guns, which laid several feet away from him. He had to make a run for it. It was his only option now.

Sectran grabbed a bunch of rocks off the ground, and tossed them at his attacker, who blocked them with his arms.
Sectran took that opportunity to jump towards one of his guns. The attacker saw this and lunched his own attack to meet Sectran. But he was too quick. He grabbed the gun off the ground, rolled to the side, avoiding the attack, charged a shot with massive energies, aimed at the chest of the assailant, and shot as best as he could aim.
Sectran's attacker, in turn had no chance to counter or avoid this quick attack.
The shot struck the assailant straight in the chest, right on target. The assailant's chest armor shattered on impact, causing him to be pushed back several feet. The sound of breaking ceramics filled the room, a deep groan of pain followed it.
Slowly, but surely, the figure of a humanoid quickly materialized in front of Sectran' eyes. The being stood at about five 5.5 feet tall, the rest of his features were unrecognizable, save for his arms, which were shaped like those of a gallade, and the top of his head, which sported the shape of a roman legionary. The man stood his ground, face covered by part of the exoskeleton, which itself, was made up mostly of some kind of metallic looking liquid with several black ceramic alloy looking plates attached on the chest, shoulders, forelegs, back, and waist.
The chest area, though shattered, still blinked with electricity. The being reached for his face covering, and proceeded to remove it. Sectran then realized, that the man was no man; it was a gallade.

The gallade only continued to stand still; he squinted in pain as he massaged his chest. Sectran's attack had been quite strong, it had not only been charged to the point of being an anti armor shot, but had it hit softer material, it would have pierced through the guy's body like a bullet trough paper. But the gallade's other type of armor seemed to have stopped his attack dead on. Whatever material it was, it was extremely strong.
Suddenly, the gallade figure began to snicker. Sectran scowled in a menacing way.
"What is so damn funny?" he asked with his gun aimed at the gallade's head.
"Oh, nothing much. I just thought this armor's clocking was impenetrable. Those bastards at the military lied." Replied the gallade with some anger in his voice.
"What are you talking about?" asked Sectran with the outmost confusion and fury, "Military? Are you telling me you work for a military force?"
"Yes. But those bastards gave me the cheapest armor they could find. When I get my hands on them..." The gallade smashed his fist and hand together, in a show of anger. He then directed his gaze at Sectran. "You put on one hell of a fight you know. I should congratulate you. No one has ever lasted that long with me." He chuckled, "since I like you a lot kid, I'll make this easy on you: Hand over the disk, and you can leave with your life."
"And If I were to refuse?" asked an enraged Sectran. Gun pointed at the gallade's face this time.
"If you refuse. Then I will have no choice but yo kill you." The gallade snickered once again, "and not just kill you in the sense that you stop breathing and expire. No. Kill you as in you get so dead, that when you are reborn, you're reborn dead."
"Wha-!" Asked a shocked Sectran, "What are you-"
"Never mind! Just hand over the damn disk." Added the gallade in an annoyed tone.
"Who the hell do you think you are? Where are my men?! What did you do to them?" Sectran asked in fury. The gallade only sighted
"Name's Blade." He bowed, "glad to meet you. As for what happened to you men." The gallade shrugged his shoulders, "how the hell should I know. I jut got here myself"
"LIAR!" Sectran shouted, "You probably killed them the same way you killed Belatrix!" Sectran pointed his gun at the Blade's head once again. The gallade merely laughed.
"Belatrix...? Oh you mean the dame!" Blade said as he rubbed the back of his head, "I didn't want to hurt her so badly. But I guess my last toss was a little too strong. Such a shame; she was quite attractive." He finished with a smile. Sectran only became more infuriated at the gallade.
"OH YOU ARE SO DAMN DEAD!" He at the top of his lungs. Blade's only response was to take a combat pose. He sneered with satisfaction.
"Bring it on! I am itching for a good fight!" Blade replied with glee and malice in is eyes.
"And please don't die quickly. I want this to last more than five minutes." He added with another deep smile.

Little did they know that something was watching them both. Waiting for its moment to strike.
The real thing that killed Sectran's men.

TO BE CONTINUED...