Calem sighed, deeply through his mouth before inhaling through his mouth again. There was a gas mask on his face, as he had sprayed a mixture of chlorine and other toxic gases in a circle around the vehicle he was hiding in. If anyone ventured near him, they'd die, or be severely incapacitated. Enough for him to notice too, because this was a particularly painful mixture of toxins, and the victim would no doubt make enough noise to alert him.
If they got through that, there was a force field Calem could activate, and after that, there was Cynthia and the FLL.
He was able to transform the inside of the jeep into a technical base, the entire thing folding out flat with only one chair up. The rest of the space was filled with a giant holographic map, and many monitors and super computers. Each monitor took one of the on-body cameras of each agent in Team Eevee.
The large holographic screen in front of him showed him the entire facility, inside and out, with about 5 miles all around, so it was extremely zoomed out. Though Calem could zoom in if he chose to.
He could see the little brown dots that represented the agents stationed everywhere, and all the enemy towers, agents, booby traps, everything. Last time they went in, the inserted a virus that basically allowed him to control everything. The agents would get in with no problem. It was how they were going to get out unscathed that was the problem.
Calem almost wished he was in there instead of Leaf. She was like a sister to him, and he much preferred when she was out of danger, even though he enjoyed being the tech much more, but then again...the pressure was a lot...
"Fairy, you've got a group coming your way," Calem said into the microphone by his head, typing in a couple strings of code to deactivate a couple traps by May's group in the mean time.
"Got it, from the right, correct? Over," Serena replied, her voice broken a little by static.
"Yeah, to your right. But head back towards Paul, it's a good idea to come together again," Calem replied, turning to monitor May's group.
On one monitor, May's group, which consisted of Marina, Drew, Ash, Gary, and Misty, was running through the grass, but each had their individual body cameras as well. Then on separate monitors, Serena, Paul, Jimmy, Dawn, and Leaf each had their own, as their group had ended up splitting up for easier access.
"Shut up. Seriously. You're going to get us all freaking killed," May hissed to Ash as he knocked into a tree with a crash.
He didn't look happy, but looked rather guilty. "Sorry, tripped."
"Agents don't trip," Misty argued.
"Yeah, well this one had a broken leg a few months ago that hasn't particularly healed yet. Alright?" Ash whispered. "I'm sorry."
"Shh!" May shushed again, turning to Calem. "Psychique, I need an update. It's too quiet, something's going on here."
"Uh...May, Drew's not here," Calem muttered uncertainly into his comms, staring at the screens as he typed away. "Drew! Where are you?"
"Hiding."
Drew's voice echoed through everyone's ears as he shifted. "There's a couple guards on my ass. With...I'm not even sure what it is. It's fucking scary."
The tremble in Drew's voice was enough to have Calem on full alert. Within moments he had hacked into the guards cameras, controlling them with ease. The glimpses of the strange...things made shivers crawl up his back.
"Mew, what the fuck is that?!" Calem swore, frantically trying to figure out everything out.
"Calem! Remember Dr. Arang?" Misty whispered in horror. Calem saw the same mutant things on her screen. Looks like May's group finally caught up with Drew. "Remember? The labs? What if these...mutts, are what they were making in there?"
"Shit," Calem said angrily, slamming his fist down angrily as he took off his cap to rub at his head. "This changes things."
Calem immediately connected with Cynthia and the other leaders, just outside of the vehicle, guarding. "Cynthia! They're mutts. Mutts. They've been creating mutts. Should they engage?"
"Yes."
Cynthia's voice crackled with static. "But they need to be careful. We need to know what we're up against. Be careful now. For all we know, they could be as strong as the legendaries. Should I call for backup?"
"No, don't," May said quickly, barley paying attention as she ordered Glaceon and Blaziken to attack. "Overheat! We got it over here, sent backup to Paul's group. I want them to get inside and destroy this shit. Shut this hellhole down. We can hold them. They've called for backup, but we've already taken down most of their team! Go, don't hesitate!" Misty's voice cried out in the background, and Calem winced, feeling horrible about the situation.
But still, Calem hesitated. Of course May's words had a ring of truth to them. If Paul's group didn't make it to the building, it wouldn't matter. "Go! Harley, Solidad, Lucas, Barry, Kenny, go! Cover for Paul's group. Hold out as long as you can. Cilan, Iris, N and Hilda! Go to the other side! Cover the back end."
"Got it."
"We're on the way."
"Let's go Salamance!"
Calem sighed in relief as the cams started moving. Paul's group was moving fast now, not even covering themselves at all, not watching for traps or anything. They had to get the job done, or it would be all for nothing.
"Damn! I knew we should've just dropped a bomb on them!" Paul snapped, his cam waving wildly as they ran.
"Who cares about innocent lives at this point? They're just escaping! This is dumb. And these stupid mutts...Shadow Ball! They're horrific." Gary grumbled. Something exploded loudly and Calem started to cover his ears before realizing how pointless it was.
Calem watched almost helplessly as Paul's little group of dots slowly advanced gaining ground, into the safe zone. Where Calem had disabled literally every security device there. They had made it in. Now they just had to place the bombs, warn the innocents, and...blow up the building. Though in Calem's point of view, there were no innocents.
But then a wave of mutts swarmed out of the building. Calem groaned in despair.
Cynthia and Aaron both insisted that many guards and workers, even some of the doctors and scientists were forced by Zebulon to work for him. They weren't their willingly. That was the only reason they didn't just aerial strike it. The facility had some anti-aircraft guns, but they were pretty useless as the EIA's planes would be able to take out those from out of range.
"I hate my job," Calem sighed as he quickly moved to send a series of explosions on the back end of the fight between May's group and the agents with the mutts. They were proving difficult targets.
"I don't understand!" Drew cried, nursing a split lip and limping. He had shoved Leaf and May out of the way of an...altered ancient power. It had hit his torso hard, ramming him straight into a tree. His leg had cracked painfully, so he was trying to keep off it as much as he could.
"These things are like tanks! All they did was fuse a couple Pokemon together, but they're resistant to everything!" Drew yelled, punching one of the agents commanding a mutt with deadly precision, knocking him out cold.
"Ice Beam Glaceon! It doesn't matter now! They're getting the data we can analysis later. Now's not the time!" May cried, knocking Gary on his ass, saving him from an Aerial Ace.
Calem turned back towards the reinforcements racing towards Paul's group. Hilda, N, and Solidad had already made it there, knocking back the seemingly endless wave of guards and mutts.
"Come on Calem! Give it another go!" May yelled, obviously frustrated. Calem saw Glaceon take a hit from a mutated Flareon, Flygon, and Zubat.
The mutts were plentiful now. A couple dozen filling the sky, earth and even underground. They were attacking furiously. Everyone had their full team out, fighting as hard as they could.
This was why training their Pokemon to be able to attack by themselves was useful. The trainers were fighting, hand to hand combat as long as shooting and other forms of fighting as well. This was an all out war.
Fires raged and thunderous strikes filled the air, flying moves, physical moves, it didn't matter. It was a war zone. Everything was out of control, and Calem, couldn't do anything to stop it.
Swords were slicing, guns were firing, arrows were sinking in bodies...carnage. That's all it was. Carnage.
Calem groaned as he scanned the holographic plane for traps and other strategically placed hindrances Zelo's team had already placed.
"May! Draw them into the forests! There are enough traps to keep them at bay for a while, I need you to draw towards the west, careful where you put your feet. Watch for Ariados's webs!" Calem said quickly, already firing up some of the shut down traps. Harley had let Calem borrow Ariados to help make the triggers for all the traps Zelo had set, and new, nasty ones he set as well.
The group fell back, quickly disappearing into the undergrowth, even nursing wounds and injuries.
"Keep silent, when I say go, run, all out sprint towards me. That should draw enough attention towards us," Calem ordered, his fingers tapping furiously in the background. He watched with fascinated horror as the mutts got closer and closer to where the agents were running.
When the mutts seemed to overtake May's team, he finally gave the signal. "Go!"
May ran next to Drew, making sure he wouldn't fall over, and Misty and Gary were helping Ash. Marina was up ahead, looking for the webs that would trigger the traps.
Calem nodded in satisfaction as one mutt ran straight into a sticky web, a Vine Whip getting stuck. As the mutt tried to retreat, it yanked the web, and suddenly there were fire balls raining down, incinerating all of the mutts with a couple square meters.
Misty, Gary and Ash barley made it past a trap before another mutt activated it, razor sharp knives shooting out of the trees, slicing most of the mutts cleanly in half.
An enemy guard was caught in the middle, a double-edged spear cutting him in half.
Calem winced at the gruesome sight.
Calem saw most of his traps activate, killing more than half of the mutts, leaving the agents in a relatively good position. This was good progress.
"Calem!"
The high-pitched yell radiated fear.
Dawn.
"Wait! Fire I'm coming! Feu! S and H! Go! Hurry up!" Leaf shouted, his cam swinging wildly as he ran towards Dawn. Calem could see through Dawn's camera, which was splattered with blood and who knows what else. "Tropius! Leaf Storm! Take it out! Take it out!"
A Gastly face, Butterfree wings, Pansage arms, and the body of an Escavalier filled the screen, and Calem heard Dawn shriek once, before blond hair was in the camera and Serena was ordering Sylveon and Pancham to attack the horrible thing.
Calem was honestly scared for their lives.
He heard Serena yell out attacks, but the camera flickered once, twice. An explosion sounded, and Dawn yelled, a sharp, blood-curdling the screen went black.
Faintly, he could hear Paul screaming. "NO!"
The anguish in his voice stopped Calem short, but he soon resumed working, because stopping wouldn't do anybody any good.
But on Serena's camera, he could see her still fighting, but the still figure of Dawn in the corner of the screen made him nervous. Blood trickled from a cut on her forehead, and her mouth was ajar, bloody and disgusting. She looked limp, and the whites of her eyes were showing. She was dead...or she had been knocked out cold. Calem could only hope for the latter
"Fire! Come in! Come on computer! Work!" Calem yelled in frustration, slamming his fist down, not the first time that day. His fingers were soon put to work as he was back to activating traps for May's team, keeping an eye out on Paul's team.
They were still progressing towards the building, Dawn being left behind to the care of the other agents holding back the tide of death.
"This isn't working out perfectly!" Calem called out, poking his head out of the vehicle to talk to Cynthia. He swore colorfully when he saw that a few mutts had found them as well. Cynthia and Aaron were fighting back to back, yelling out commands in perfect sync against about a dozen of the more ugly mutts.
"Of course not!" Cynthia yelled behind her shoulder as she shouldered a Zap Canon for Aaron, wincing at the impact. The armor on her body kept the real damage at bay. "Things never go our fucking way when we're dealing with Zelo!"
"Language sweetheart!" Aaron yelled back, ducking under an Wing Attack. "Vespiquen! GO! Gust! Keep that Reshiram and Altaria mutt from hitting Bertha!"
Bertha, Lucian, and Flint took the other side, holding back around two dozen mutts. Calem even spotted a few legendary body parts on their side as well.
"Oh Mew, Arceus help us, we're all fucking dead," Calem muttered, letting his head drop for a second before diving back into the fray
With that, Calem got back to typing. He soon had a force field set up, holding back the barrage of attacks. Lucian yelled out a muffled thanks, but Calem was busy watching May's team, and keeping Paul's team alive for a few more minutes.
He couldn't look away for a second, but he had to, because he had to monitor everything. As soon as he focused on one person, and turned away to try and help someone else, the person would be in immediate danger and that made Calem constantly switch between cameras, giving him motion sickness as he powered through it all, furiously saving his best friends' lives.
They would have all died multiple times if it weren't for Calem, so when Paul's team made it inside of the building, and finally started collecting information, Calem completely ignored the quick kiss Drew bestowed on May. She had shaken her head and focused again, instead of panicking over her hurt Pokemon. During better times, the gray-eyed agent would have made fun of the brunette and the grass-head so much, but it wasn't better times. And if kissing was going to get May to focus again and start ordering her team like a leader, than kissing it was.
But Calem made sure to tuck that information into the back of his head, remembering to make fun of them if they all got out of this alive.
He didn't even bat an eye when a Electro Ball slammed into the back of the truck, jolting the systems and making them flicker. But a couple switches and some plugs later, Calem was back to monitoring everything going on.
May's team was holding on fine, but Paul's team was experiencing difficulties.
"Psychique! Bro! I need you to download that hack program onto the flash-drive! Now! Transmit it quick!" Leaf said quickly through comms, her bloodied camera focusing on the whirring green numbers as she hacked into the lab database.
Calem was quick to obey, allowing Leaf to efficiently get the information.
Security guards had mostly left in search for the intruders, but a light amount of them, but with a whole bunch of mutts.
Calem watched Paul and Jimmy exchange the wildest curses they could think of as they fought to extend Leaf's time, while Serena set the bombs.
"Why do the fucking asshats that are male have to do the shitty jobs?" Jimmy said triumphantly, knocking back an agent. Flareon obediently knocking back a mutt, heaving and breathing heavily. He was tired. They all were.
"Good one," Paul grunted, shoving a mutt off him and wiping it's saliva on his pants as he kicked a different guard in the gut, finishing up with a downward jab that knocked him unconscious.
"These demented bastards have absolutely no fucking idea what hell we're going to put them through. We're doing a shitty job, but these bitches are still fucking shitting themselves," Paul replied, continuing their tirade.
"Language boys!" Serena called dotingly, strapping the bombs on tightly before tinkering with the fuse tech.
"I'm fucking fighting for my damn life! I can swear however I want! Sorry Mar! I apologize for ruining your old fashioned beliefs!" Jimmy yelled, vaulting over a guy, strangling him to unconsciousness in the process. "Typhlosion! Flamethrower!"
Marina was busy fighting, but Calem heard her reprimand over the comms, and laughed lightly, shaking his head. Sweat droplets fell on the screen and Calem sat back for a second in shock, realizing just how physically exerted he was.
"When will this end, Arceus? Isn't it time to end this madness?" Calem murmured, staring at the screen helplessly as Paul's team got out of the building. He watched helplessly as May got torn down from a Whirlpool, Drew and Marina screaming identically as they raced to save their friend. Calem almost seemed to be in a trance, barley focused as his brain shut down and flipped through everything that had happened that evening.
He watched helplessly as Dawn was leaned against a tree, Solidad's Slowbro faithfully protecting her with his psychic shield, his trainer fighting desperately for her life next to her own partner, she and Harley working effortlessly together.
There was nothing else he could do to help. All the traps were expended, Paul's team was on the retreat, ready to explode the bombs, May's team was pulling themselves together to make it back, the rest of the agents on their way back already, carrying the unconscious/dead Dawn as well, but the wave of mutts just kept coming. How many of these abominable creatures had they made?
Even the former Sinnoh Champion and Elite Four was getting exhausted at the onslaught of mutts. This changes things.
That's what Calem had thought, the first time they had seen the mutts. And now, hours later, Calem was just starting to realize how dangerous this creation could be.
When he finally found his way out of his daze, he realized how loud the voices shrieking in his ear was.
"Psychique! Are you there? We're here! You need to open up the damn force field! Psychique!" May yelled, turning towards the tide of mutts fighting Cynthia and the Elite Four.
Calem immediately jumped to action, lifting the field just enough for May's entire team to make it through, covering most of the attacks. He watched Paul's team approach, little dots bouncing throughout the 3D terrain.
He jumped to action, getting everything into the plane and getting the heli up and running within minutes. The agents not on Team Eevee made it through, N lugging an unconscious Dawn.
She had been barley breathing, almost ready to leave the world.
And when Paul's team made it, and had made it through, was when he relaxed.
Everyone piled into the helicopter, sweat dripping into his eyes. Everyone was safe. Everything was okay. So he thought.
"Calem!"
The hoarse, desperate, scared, cry stopped all of them short. "I needed to get Slyveon! I couldn't leave her behind! Help! I. Help! Sylveon! Noo!"
The helicopter stopped its accent, hovering just above the ground.
Calem's voice was deathly quite. Angry. "Where. Is. Serena?!"
"I don't know!" Paul said tiredly, staring at outside, scanning the ground for the blond-beauty. "She was with us a second ago! I guess...I guess Sylveon got stuck out there. I know Pancham was returned and so was Finnekin but...I don't know. Maybe...I don't know!"
May didn't waste time.
Nursing many cuts, a broken arm and dislocated shoulder, she swung the door open, jumping out of the helicopter, landing safely in the grass eight feet below. Bertha made a move to go after her, but Lucian held out a gently arm, holding her back.
"May!" Drew said, struggling against Ash's despairing hold as he fought to go after her. "May! You can't go after her...WITHOUT ME!"
"Drew! You're hurt! You have a broken leg and who knows what else!" Marina chided. "You need to rest! If you go out there, you won't make it back!"
Drew turned to Marina, eyes welled up with angry tears. "You think she's any better off than me?"
Marina looked slightly ashamed before turning to stare out as May made her way out of the force field. She willingly took the attacks of the mutts as she made her way to Serena, huddled down there with her Sylveon clutched tightly in her arms, running and dodging attacks, on her way towards May and the helicopter.
Leaf made to jump out, after the brunette, her eyes wide with worry.
"None of you can go after her," Cynthia ordered calmly, though you could see the confliction in her eyes. "None. It's the EIA rules. I forbid you. If May and Serena make it back, great, but otherwise..."
Team Eevee could only watch in horror as Serena was hit by an Ancient Power, hitting her so hard she crumpled and fell, Sylveon spilling onto the ground. The brave Eeveelution turned and started firing attacks, determined to defend her trainer to her last breath.
May stumbled a bit, a mutt reaching out to attack her with a Fury Swipe, causing her to pitch forwards. But back-pedaling quickly, she managed to regain her balance.
She knew, along with everyone else that if she fell, her dislocated shoulder and broken arm would keep her from getting back up. Glaceon and Blaziken was the only Pokemon she had out, defending her.
If they weren't there, she would've been dead a long time ago.
So under the care of her most trusted partners, May made it Serena, wincing as she helped the girl up.
Sylveon and Glaceon was returned as Blaziken heaved the two girls up, flying through the cloud of mutts, jumping off them and firing attacks towards whatever mutt was in the way.
And of course, Blaziken, not to let anyone down, made it to the force field with the girls alive. But they couldn't get the field down without endangering the helicopter.
Calem swore. "Shit, someone get me the hologram. NOW!"
Kenny ran from the back with it, staring in confusion towards them. "What's going on?"
"Uh...May went to go get Serena," Ash answered shakily, eyes trained on the two girls.
"Dammit, why didn't any of you go after her?" Kenny asked angrily, turning around to face them. "If Solidad, Harley, Hilda, N, Barry, Lucas, and me were up here, we would've have been after her like a bullet! Too bad we're back there taking care of Dawn. You guys are a team! A unit! If a leader does something, you follow it!"
Paul was reduced to a silent, scared mess as he stared at the other leader, his own partner-in-crime with fear, hoping that they made it out alright. Kenny was right. And he was wrong.
Of course, with Leaf, Lucian and Calem working together, they managed to open the field enough so that Blaziken could get in with May and Serena, but the flying Pokemon couldn't get in.
But by the time that happened, May and Serena looked so bloodied and mangled that Calem wasn't even sure if they were humans anymore. The clenching, furious, anger Calem felt only made him want to smash something.
The girls made it to the heli, and as Calem drove them silently out of the danger zone, everyone keeping silent, tending to injuries and making sure that May, Dawn and Serena would not die from blood loss.
No one wanted to make Calem mad. Or the just-as-furious Drew.
When they were far enough away, the detonated the bombs, the explosion resonating through the air, even miles and miles away from the facility.
When the helicopter made it back, and everyone was back inside the Sinnoh base, Calem finally spoke.
"You are all fucking cowards."
Then he turned and started gathering Dawn, Serena, and May onto the stretchers, helping Dr. Hamliton
Drew shot a look of downright contempt towards them. "I can't believe that you all would have left Serena behind, if May hadn't gone after her. I just...I can't believe you held me back going to get May. Cynthia, Aaron, Lucian, I thought you guys knew better. I thought you, Aaron, would've have gone after them, you know? Bertha, I know you would've if you could've...but they didn't let you. You to Leaf. So I apologize."
"Well, I know we're trained to leave an agent behind if necessary...but after all we did? Everything we've gone through together? None of you had the decency to go after May. I just...I need to comprehend all this. I thought you guys were my team. My friends. My partners. I thought I could count on you guys. But I guess Calem is the only one worth counting on, huh? " Drew spat almost angrily, his green eyes narrowed into angry slits.
"Whatever, I'm taking them down to the hospital wing with Calem. You deal with your fucking mutts. Once May heals and I talk with her...well, there's a possibility I won't be coming back. What a disappointment," Drew huffed, turning away to help Calem.
"I can't believe we did that," Marina breathed, on the verge of tears. "How could we have let May go after Serena alone Mist? How-"
Her voice broke as tears slid down her face slowly. Misty turned to wrap her arms around her cousin.
"I don't know Mar. I was just...so tired, and scared. But that's no excuse. We really fucked up, didn't we?" Misty said hoarsely, her turquoise eyes rimmed with red as she and Marina started the trek inside.
"Yeah, we did," Marina agreed, wiping at her eyes. "Let's just makes sure they're alright."
"Come on Leaf," Lucian muttered quietly, holding out the flash-drive with all the deadly information, offering it to her.
"No," Leaf said, backing away with tears in her eyes. "I can't believe...you wouldn't let me go after her, Cynthia..."
She lowered her head in shame. "And I can't believe I didn't have the courage to go after her anyways. Goodbye, figure out that stuff on your own Lucian. If May dies...I don't think I'll be coming back either. Have fun...being heartless bastards."
Cynthia looked ready to cry, in fact tears were already rolling down her face. "I...I."
"It's okay, you did what you thought was right, and soon they'll see it too. It might not have been right...but you were under pressure. It's okay," Aaron helped her quietly back inside, Lucian and Flint following. Bertha huffed and went inside, not even acknowledging anyone else.
"I can't believe that happened," Gary muttered, running bloody hand through his ashy hair.
"I can't believe I restrained Drew," Ash murmured, eyes wide with shock as his entire body trembled with weariness. "I...I need to sleep and think about this tomorrow. Goodnight."
Jimmy didn't say anything, and silently walked in. Gary and Ash followed soon, leaving Paul standing there.
Paul stared at the doors, his body throbbing from the exercise he had just put them through, but he couldn't bring himself to walk inside.
He opened his mouth to speak. "I..."
But his voice broke, and he suddenly felt the urge to puke. And he did, all over the nice brick tiles.
When he was done puking, he sat up and wiped his mouth roughly, walking inside to look at the girls' conditions. "I'm sorry Dawn, for being a bad leader. I'm sorry May, for failing you in your time of need. I'm sorry Serena, for choosing to abandon you. I've failed, and once I know that you guys are okay...I think I'll be leaving too. I think...it's time I went home."