Scyther's War (On Hiatus)

Cataclysm

Bright streams of light pass over the gorge we've made into our base, for the moment, at least. Cries of pain slice the air, some of pokemon, others of humans. A dirty red and white ball sits in my hands, it has two crossed cuts in it just above a button on it's front. Dust rains down on me from above, over the edge of the scratch cut into the land. A black silhouette shadows the camp, crossing quickly over it, someone must be returning from a sky patrol. I rub the pokeball off on my shirt, exposing it's shiny red top. "Hey, get up, our patrol time." I turn my head, another female private stands above me, two ultraballs in her hands. "Dragonite, or Hydreigon?" I put the pokeball in my hands onto my belt and stand up, "Hydreigon." The girl hands me the pokeball out of her left hand, and begins to climb a nearby ladder out of the trench. I wait for her to reach the top, then follow, up the creaky wooden ladder. The girl lets out the dragonite and it lowers itself close to the ground so she can get up. She  thows her legs up over the giant dragon pokemon and it takes off into the sky. I press the button on the ultraball to release the three headed dragon. I launch myself up into the air, boosting myself up above the hydreigon and before I can land down on the pokemon, it begin it's ascent into the air, crushing into me in the air. Sky patrol, generaly being a rather tedious and dull activity, was a good time for me to allow my mind to wander. Quite like usual, the first thing that comes to mind is my enlistment. "You all have made a great decision today." The lieutenant who took our names and information stands tall before uswith his arms crossed behind his back, a particularly large raichu stands at his side, mimicing his position. "As it was said to you when you joined this great army, you will be allowed a single pokemon of your own. When I joined, I chose my partner, raichu." I move my left hand to my waist, touching the pokeball fastened to my belt, cuts scored into the special apricorn lid. I unlike most of the others in the crowd, have already chosen, I'd chosen before I even knew the rule. That had been just over three years ago, and that pokeball, and the pokemon inside were still here, the same scratches, the same worn, hard, red, lid. I hold my gaze on the area around the encampment, a place that gives off the vibe of a desert, a plain, pocked with the scars of powerful attacks. Dark lesions branded into the grass and earth stripe the field, and many flying pokemon, mostly dual-typed, circle over the battle-marked prairie. Dragonite and the other girl hastily circle the field, though only slightly faster than us. She obviously wanted to finish this patrol quickly. I slow hydreigon, a slight edge of suspicion slides in my stomach, I haven't a clue why, but still it creeps through me. It takes a long time for me to meticulously survey the field with hydreigon, checking thoroughly with my eyes over the large area, but finally, I return to the gorge. "Lieutenant? Permission to take my personal hour?" The lieutenant and raichu look at me, "granted." He says, and raichu waves me off. I back away slowly at first, then I turn and run out to the ladder, detaching the single pokeball from my belt and climb the ladder as fast as I possibly can and throw the ball out just as I pull myself up onto ground level. Light and electricity pour from inside the pokeball and form into the shape of my pokemon, the pokemon that has been mine since I was little, and it was little as well, when my parents had given me a pokeball and told me to go out and find a pokemon. I was seven. That day, I'd gone out into the forest, and played with the pokemon there, one in particular, the one who agreed to come with me, and has stayed ever since,  my partner, scyther. It appears from the light from the pokeball. "Scyther! Scyther!" I smile, "personal hour, scyther, wanna go for a run?" Scyther nods vigorously and It starts to run quickly. I follow, hitting exactly the same pace as scyther and I cover ground at full tilt. We hug the edging of the plains, avoiding the possible gaze of the enemy. Everywhere we go, I can feel eyes staring out from the forests and mountains around the field. One thick stretch of forest in particular catches my, and scyther's attention, we both slow and stop before the teeming grid of trees. "Think we should investigate, scyther?" Scyther, who had also been trained in the military with me, nodded, knowing that whatever may be in the forest could be an enemy. Scyther raises it's weapons, it's arms,  and begins to stalk into the woods. Cautiously we both walk almost a mile ino the forest, nothing but our feet making a single sound, then, a tiny crack, not made by either of us. I whip around to an alakazam, holding both of it's spoons out to us. Two red bandanas are tied tightly around it's wrists, the signal to us that this pokemon is not our friend. I act swiftly, "scyther, fury cutter, and keep it up!" Scyher, quick as a flash, jumps at the alakazam and uses it's scythes to cut at it in a dark and power-rising attack that highly damages our foe. Alakazam strikes back without hesitation, launching a powerful psychic type attack that I don't recognize, and knocks scyther away but barely damages him in the slightest. I call for another fury cutter, knowing it's power will only grow from here, and alakazam flinches away, the attack still hitting it's target, but not dead on for full damage. Alakazam, showing visible effort, holds it's spoons up in front of it, transparent blue light explodes from our enemy, strongest around scyther, who turns aound quickly, as if attempting to break free of something, a psychic attack. Scyther rises into the air, though not of it's own accord, it struggles in the air, like rope has been tied tightly around it's body. "Night slash, scyther!" Scyther's eyes, which had been closed in the stress to escape, open wide, and dark energy vibrates around it's scythes, a deep purple-black cloak of power. Scyther turns it's long claws outward and with the single second of movement it has left, it darts at alakazam, claws outstretched, and finishes the battle. landing on the ground behind our enemy just as it falls onto it's front in the pine-needles and leaves on the ground. Seconds after the battle ends and scyther walks back to my side only minorly injured, a colossal sound echoes through the forest, followed by the sound of multiple immensely powerful attacks, many multipliers stronger than alakazam. A staller. They left alakazam here to keep me busy. Then a second thought pierces my mind, it takes over the remainder of my consciousness, get back to the encampment. Save everyone. Scyther looks over at me, and I nod. We run, holding a fast pace throught the forest, anxious to see the grassland. Scyther, who is no longer concerning itself with keeping completely with me, dashes ahead. Not so far, though, as to be out of my sight, for it's comfort, I'm guessing, as much as mine. Scyther breaks through the barrier of trees first and stops dead. It takes me only a matter of seconds to catch up, and to stop just like scyther did. The field is no longer a golden plain of grassland as much as a giant, flaming, scorch mark swarming with red-bandana'd pokemon, mostly flying, some on the ground and several people standing amoung the burning plain. Five or six gyarados floay seamlessly above, along with some pidgeot, dragonite, swellow, and even a few charizard On the ground are herds of rapidash, rhyperior, liepard, and many watchog. Most pokemon are launching devastating attacks on the earth close th o the camp, which has been reduced to a crater in the charred savanna. Not a single person I recognize is in the crater, at least... not that I would be able to recognize. A few tiny things speckle the crater, but it's too far away for me to be able to distinguish them. I shake the feeling of absolute dread from myself and begin to run, pushing toward the place where camp was originally, and through the exhaustion materializing in the edges of me. Scyther catches up, keeping just a foot behind me, looking just as horrified as I felt. We again hug the sides of the clearing, keeping ourselves hidden from enemy pokemon, scyther wouldn't be able to deal with them if they were all on us, which they would be, if we were seen. It was likely the alakazam scyther had easily beaten was one of the weaker ones, since it had not been taken to participate in the destruction of our temporary home, and the rest of our platoon. So, we snuck, and when we were about halfway across the field, pokemon began to slowly leave, off in one direction, all the flying pokemon and all the land pokemon, going off back to some other temporary home, which they will desert in a few days. once they've all gone, scyther and I resume full pace, taking the "as the crow flies" way to the crater that was once our campsite. In a matter of moments were there, standing on the lip of some giant scar in the earth that marks the desrtuction of my platoon, the gravesite of everyone I'd known for the past three years, only the shattered remains of a few ultraballs, some broken barrels leaking supplies, singed bread, charred vegetables and berries that have melted into bubbling puddles of pulpy juice. A single pokemon circles above the broken remains, a soothsayer, a survivor, like us. Casting an ellongated shadow on the destruction, the sole other thing that will remember this, the only other one left.