War Dogs of Old Kanto: Chapter One

Last time I visited this country, and this was before Hoenn defected to the Consortium, before the war was much of a thing at all, it was to fish at Lake May with my parents. Dad let a trophy Magikarp break his line so I could keep my record of fattest catch of the day. I pretended I didn’t know it was on purpose. Two decades later, I've traded waders for combat boots and look down on the military outpost I'm to attack.

It's not much of a base. Maybe a hundred personnel, tops, including non-combatants. The town it oversees is equally unimpressive. Good. This one should be easy for once. I don't like the empty plains that surround it, though. We have no cover, save the dark.

"Ma'am?" says Bridge as she shoves some uncooperative blue hair under her helmet. Rangers are allowed non-regulation fashion. Command lets Rangers do damn near anything. And all we have to do in return are weekly suicide missions.

"Ghost, you and Jack go scout the camp. No deaths, not yet."

The girl and the Haunter disappear. Ghost is the girl, the Haunter is Jack. Any other unit in the army and Ghost would be a freak. Trainers are weird enough, but mediums are worse, and bonding with a ghost-type?

But the Rangers don't care. We're just glad she's on our side.

"Claws, would you—" before I finish, my Sandslash digs a trench for Bear to put his mounted machine gun. We've been together since before the war. My pokemon, not me and Bear, though we go back, too.

Finished with the set-up, Bear strokes the turret like a lover and pets his Dragonair with his off-hand. She wraps herself around his neck in response, which is surprising since Bear doesn't really have a neck.

"I wonder what happens to a man hit with a .40 cal bullet and a hyper beam at the same time."

"Let's pray it stays a mystery," I tell him. "This is just an extract. Quick and quiet. Your job is to provide cover in case we need a distraction, but all goes well, you and X will be superfluous, understood?"

X hadn't needed an order, already in wait in a sniper's perch, his Scyther standing guard lest anyone gets too close.

Bridge smiles without humor, checks her shotgun a third time, and scratches her Ninetales behind the ears. "Leaving just you, me, and Ghost against the whole base?"

"That and the new guy."

Bridge's smile drops. "It's his first mission. No one plays front man on their first mission."

"I need someone who can disable electronics. So unless Yamada can shoot a magnetic pulse from one of those tails, Corporal Surge comes along. Besides, you were complaining about being hopelessly outnumbered earlier."

"Another body would be nice, but a rookie's a liability. We don't need a new guy. We need Kaido and Eiji."

"Kaido's dead and so is his Electabuzz." Even now, it stings.

Surge looks at Bridge, straightens his posture, tries to steady his voice. Fails. "I'm a veteran of the war just like you, lieutenant. Ma'am."

Shit, how old was this kid again? Seventeen or eighteen? I can't remember.

"How many battles have you fought in?" asks Bridge. "One? Two? You were on summer fucking vacation while we were storming the shores of Kalos. If command wasn't so desperate for trainers—"

"Enough!" I shout slightly too loud. "That's an order, LT."

A beep in my ear interrupts us. I'm grateful.

"Captain. Finished a full sweep. No trainers here, just guns. Jack could probably take this place himself." Somehow, Ghost's voice is even more monotone over the comm.

"Negative, Specialist."

"Roger that. Only place Dr. Kazan could be is a magnetically sealed bunker we found in the south east corner. Not even Jack could get inside."

"Copy. Suggested route?"

I picture Ghost's detached half smile as she says, "Eastern gate's wide open. Sent a couple sentries to sleepy town."

"Jack making sure they have sweet dreams?"

"Yeeeaah."

We move in, and I hope Surge doesn't piss himself. Maybe I should give him a few words of encouragement. I don't.

I spot Jack before I find his owner, and the eight of us make our way to the bunker. We KO two soldiers on the way, kill three others without making a sound. Claws shallowly buries the survivors while Yamada turns the corpses to ash.

Bridge wants to torch them all, but that's not the mission and I still have a hang up about killing unconscious men.

The bunker is small, simple iron construction. But the door is solid and the mag field keeps me from touching the metal.

"If we kill the field can Yamada melt the hinges?" My LT nods so I motion toward Surge.

The kid shakes, swallows some spit. "Raichu, thunder shock, but keep it quiet." Raichu cocks it's head; hesitation. That'll kill you out here in the field, your pokemon questioning orders. Moreso than a gun jam. Maybe even moreso than you hesitating.

No doubt the kid's a strong trainer. Most people with the gift are lucky to bond with a Krabby, much less an evo. But he's still green. And his Pokemon senses the doubt. Bridge was right. Fucking dammit.

The field dies and the door sizzles. And there he is: the target. The man we're to kidnap, gift to command, and maybe get some shiny medals to show for it. Our good friend Doctor Kazan. He looks like he walked out of some corny Unovan flick. Balding, thin, white lab coat, glasses, mouth agape.

In front of him is a table full of tools that I can't name, at his back a chalk board crammed full with calculations and a diagram of what looks like an egg split down the middle.

The Doc's shockingly fast and snatches something off the table. A weapon? I raise my assault rifle, "Drop it, asshole!"

But he doesn't and it's not a weapon. It's a wireless trigger. "Surge!" I shout, but too late.

The Rookie looks at me, then back at the Doc. "Huh? Oh, Raichu, shock him!"

Kaido wouldn't have needed my order and Eiji wouldn't have needed Kaido's. Kaido would've pointed and Kazan would be paralyzed, flat on his back. But Surge wasn't Kaido.

Kazan clicks the button and his desk goes up like a suicidal Electrode.

We're all thrown onto our asses. My vision returns in six seconds. Hearing takes longer. The team's a bit bloodied, but alive, save Kazan and his bloody research. Command will throw a bitch and a half.

It sounds like it's half a mile off, but I make out Bridge cussing up a storm. The glare I give her shuts her up and I help Surge to his feet.

"Ma'am, I'm... I—"

"Later."

Ghost stares blankly forward. Well, more blank than usual, anyway. I pray to the Primals she isn't concussed. Then I follow her eyes. Shit. This wasn't just a lab. It was a secret mine shaft.

Behind the chalkboard is a hidden door. Or was a hidden door. A full cart at the entrance tells me what they're mining. Just the ore in that cart is worth more than the whole base combined. No wonder they wanted to keep this a secret.

Surge looks on with confusion. Bridge sighs.

Did command know? They couldn't have, right?

Either way, a Crystalnode mine is bound to be protected. Really protected. By trainers.

The ringing in my ears keeps me from estimating distance, but I hear soldiers outside. Time to make scarce. I get on the comm. "Bear, X, ops gone FUBAR. Go loud."

"Roger," says X.

"Roger," says Bear, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine the glee in his voice.

I turn to the rest of the team. "Surge, as we run, Raichu hits all the generators. Ghost, send Jack ahead to draw fire. Maybe they'll be stupid enough to waste bullets. Yamada and Claws will take the rear throwing up dust and smoke to cover our ass. Everyone else run and shoot like hell. Go!"

We step into a storm of bullets and return fire. Generators blow, sometimes taking out hostiles, sometimes not, always taking out lights. Darkness makes it harder to shoot, but harder to get hit, so I'll take what I can get.

I'm on point and fire my rifle in short bursts, Bridge's shotgun spits shells almost as fast, Surge sprays his SMG wildly.

Ghost hangs back with a handgun in one hand and tachi in the other, cutting down those who run through the smokescreen and make it past Yamada and Claws. She favors the sword.

How is she not coughing? I'm all the way in front and have hacked up a lung.

Halfway to the fence and with a trail of scorched, shocked, and riddled bodies behind us, we round a corner where an unlucky private’s been waiting for me. My hand throws him to the ground, my foot stomps his neck. Maybe he'll live, I've already forgotten his face. Too busy worrying about the second enemy I failed to notice in time. A woman with a slug barrel trained on me. I raise my rifle but it won't matter. She has the drop on me. This could be it.

Then her head disappears.

X, you rude, intolerable, alcoholic, lecherous bastard, I love you more than my fucking mother.

Next I see Bear's handiwork. He's cut a path for us and from the corner of my eyes I spot a hyper beam slice through a support pillar on a watch tower. The men inside jump and only break their legs. The one crushed under the debris is less fortunate.

We can't leave through the gate we entered, so I point to the fence and Claws gets to work.

"B squad," I shout into the comm, "We won't reach rendezvous Alpha on our own, requesting pick up ASAP!"

We sprint through the hole in the fence and I cut my arm a bit on the steel. I turn to Ghost. A Haunter can't ride in an Armored Fighting Vehicle or keep up with one, so I make a judgement call as I fire a few rounds. "Send Jack to rendezvous Gamma. If we don't pick him up in an hour, tell him to head to evac."

Sixty five seconds later and the open top AFV drives by just slow enough for us all to jump in. One sorry bastard on our tail gets creamed by X's driving. Two more lose their heads to X's Scyther. I've no idea how Bear got his gun inside the car's mounted port so fast, but no complaints here.

More bullets trade, then we're gone, over the hill. Goodbye, Doctor Kazan. I wonder why they aren't pursuing. But fuck it. Don't say no to a free Chansey egg.

"Anyone hit?"

Ghost shakes her head, but I wasn't too worried about her. You can't kill a Ghost.

Bridge hits her chest plate twice. "Took one to the chest. Armor held."

"I'm, uhh, shot. In the arm, barely." Surge goes red and looks away. It's not a bad hit, all things considered, but no gunshot is good, either.

"Somebody grab the wheel," says X before jumping into the truck bed with the rest of us.

"Asshole," screams Bridge before taking control, barely preventing a roll-over.

X. Man of many talents. Sniper. Tech genius. Champion drinker despite weighing a hundred and ten pounds. Card player. Master of lewd jokes. And squad medic.

"Take off your shirt, greenie," he orders.

"I'm okay, Sergeant, it's a scratch."

"I'm happy to take it off for you," says X with a wink. Surge does as he's bid and X goes to work. "Don't worry, I'm a professional. Mostly. Partly. Well, sometimes I flirt with the idea of professionality. But look on the bright side, it's not a leg wound, so your pants can stay put. I imagine a guy like you goes commando?"

"Lay off the rookie, Sarge," I say.

"Wait," it's Bear. "Wasn't there a target to extract?" Everyone stays quiet. "Is that why the four of you are so sullen?"

Bridge just fumes, Ghost looks away. I decide on honesty.

"Partly."

Ghost doesn't look at me when she speaks. "Are we going to talk about what we saw? Behind the chalkboard?"

"I still don't understand," says Surge.

"I'm sure that's true for a lot of things," Bridge replies.

I ignore her this time, then hear a roar. Should've paid more attention in my wildlife classes. "Shit, wild Graveler?"

"Lairon," growls Bridge through gritted teeth.

I'd bet my ass it's part of a cavalry unit. Riders are trainers, just like Rangers, and they have to bond with their pokemon all the same. But for a pokemon to let you ride it? Cavalry officers are harsh masters. Cruel, even. Pokemon mounts are their property, not fellow squad members.

Bear feeds another belt of ammo into his machine gun. "Fuckers."

Cavalry tried to hire Bear once. Bear broke the recruiter's nose. "Even if I was a sadistic piece of shit," he'd said as I picked him up from the brig. "I still wouldn't go cavalry. I like my pokemon elegant, and only a brute could carry my weight."

Even with nothing but starlight, I can make out a figure on the horizon. Multiple figures, getting closer. No doubt heavily armed Riders.

"Step on it," I order.

They'll have to catch us first, then they'll have to kill us. Yeah, well, we're Kanto's Eleventh Ranger squad. Good fucking luck.

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