Uneasy

Deimos officially hated being a part of this squad. On the first day, Tamora decided they would climb a mountain and descend the opposite side before stopping to rest for the day. On the second day, she decided they would trek through a swamp. They had already been attacked by two swarms of Zubats while in the swamp.

Thankfully, they could drive off the more significant first wave using tactics they had discussed before moving out. In the second wave, Blaren could control using his Golbat effectively, adding a solid force of 7 Zubat to their small team.

What pissed Deimos off was that he couldn't train any of these days due to the constant trekking to their destination. The four Pages had been told by Gideon, who acted as the second in command of the team, that they were marching towards a set of mountains called the Sacred Four.

The Sacred Four were a set of mountains arranged in a square formation, one at each corner. Between them was an elevated valley, and the top of each mountain was a flat, spherical peak. They were roughly four to five days from their destination, and Deimos could not wait to arrive.

Roggenrola completely agreed with Deimos on this. The two had been bonding over through their intense dislike of the journey and the miserable conditions they had been facing. Deimos's legs were tired after the climb they did the first day.

Later that day, Blaren and his Golbat found a somewhat dry area in the swamp. Once Gideon had ensured the area was safe, Tamora called it a day. They had stopped earlier in the day, finally allowing Deimos and Roggenrola to train.

Going off into a clearing a little outside the camp they had set up, Deimos had Roggenrola begin his usual training. Using Harden repeatedly and Tackle and Smack Down into trees. After an hour or two of training, Deimos jerked his head toward camp as he heard shouting and yelling.

"Roggenrola, follow me, quickly," Deimos said as he sprinted towards the camp, unsheathing his knife in the process. When he got to the camp, everything was in disarray. 60-75 Ekans were slithering around, attacking everything in sight.

Almost everyone had their Pokemon out and were fighting back against the den of Ekans that they had set their camp up on. Blaren was the only person who didn't have his Pokemon out, and that was because the said person looked strangled on the ground.

It took Deimos a second to analyze the situation before he lunged at the first Ekans, intent on driving his knife through its brain. Driving it through the first Ekans brain, Deimos called out to Roggenrola,

"Harden and then Tackle every Ekans you see, Roggenrola!"

Roggenrola, upon hearing this, followed Deimos's orders down to the letter, adding more chaos to the camp.

Neldo and Leka fought as a fluid pair, Leka and Sandile as the offense and Neldo and Shieldon on defense, ruthlessly utilizing the talents of their Pokemon. Shieldon would block attacks while Sandile would savagely attack those left disoriented by the metal shield head Shieldon has.

Gideon and his Lairon were in the center of the fray, carving a bloody path through the Ekans. Blood and body parts rained around them as Lairon tore them apart with its claws, and Gideon chopped them to bits with axes.

Tamora and her Solrock stayed on the outskirts, picking off Ekans with a crossbow. Any Ekans that made it close to Tamora would be held in place by Solrock before a well-placed arrow would find its way into their skulls.

Ducking while slashing up, Deimos cut a lunging Ekans in two before turning the upwards slash into a downwards slash. It was like there was no end to the Ekans' den. Deimos made every movement to either dodge an Ekans or kill an Ekans. There was no wasted movement.

Fifteen minutes later, Deimos was hunched over, panting as the last of the Ekans stopped moving, dead. Luckily for the team, none of the Ekans knew moves that could've been genuinely damaging to most of the team's Pokemon. Only Sandile and Shieldon took some damage from the fight.

Standing up and recalling Roggenrola, Deimos approached where his teammates had gathered around Blaren's unconscious body. Once he arrived, he saw Tamora kneeling next to the body with her fingers on his neck, shaking her head, signaling that he had no pulse.

Unclipping the Pokeball from his bag, Tamora shoved it in her bag before standing up.

"We move at first light. Deimos, you take the first watch." Tamora said before moving over to where her tent was set up.

Neldo and Leka moved away toward their tents, softly talking to themselves as they did so. Gideon, on the other, looked down at the body before at Deimos and said,

"Stupid cunt got what he deserved for not checking the area thoroughly. Best watch your back out here, Deimos. Who knows what could happen?"

Nodding his head in agreement, Deimos watched Gideon's calm expression turn into a slight grin before the man spun on his heel and went to his tent. Finding a log in the middle of the camp, Deimos released Roggenrola and began the first fire watch of the night.

-- Break --

Deimos could see it in the distance. The Sacred Four. It looked like the Drum Kingdom mountains in One Piece without snow. Four of those mountains were in a square formation with a flat plateau a little beneath the peak of the mountains in between them.

They had maybe a day left in their journey. Ever since Blaren died, no one had mentioned him again. It was almost as if he had never existed on the team; no one cared about him. He knew the risks of what could happen by being a part of their little 'Black Ops' unit.

They had left the swamp yesterday, something Deimos and Roggenrola were very thankful for. The rest of the journey would be through plains, and hopefully, they wouldn't face another Pokemon attack with their proximity to the Sacred Four.

According to Tamora, there was an old legend that the Sacred Four were considered a holy place among Pokemon, fighting and death being forbidden while within its ranges. However, this wasn't confirmed, considering the remote location of the Sacred Four mountains.

Deimos hoped it was true; there had already been enough fighting on the trip between the two Zubat swarm attacks and the Ekans den attack. While he was walking in the back of the arrowhead formation they were, he noticed Gideon and Neldo talking to each other. They were speaking at a low enough volume that no one else could hear them.

One thing that had struck Deimos as odd when they were attacked by the Ekans the other night was the fact that Gideon cleared the area before they set up camp. It was clear to Deimos that the man had a well-trained Lairon. He wasn't sure how Gideon could miss something as significant as a den of Ekans.

Especially with a Steel/Rock type as a partner. To Deimos, it simply didn't make any sense. However, neither Tamora, Leka, nor Neldo mentioned it, so Deimos didn't either. Maybe it was Deimos overthinking things, but Gideon seemed like a pretty sly and clever man beneath the positive image he portrayed.

They reached the mountain base a little before sunset and camped. Tamora immediately entered her tent for the night, most likely to write a log of what happened during the day. Gideon, Leka, and Neldo were gathered around a fire, talking to each other in low voices.

Deimos would join them if not for the fact that he wanted to continue training Roggenrola. He had barely been able to train during the journey and didn't plan on wasting his or Roggenrola's time with pointless talking. He wouldn't see these people again after the assignment was over, most likely.

It was approaching dusk when Leka came over to where he was training Roggenrola and told him that the team was gathering for a meeting. After recalling Roggenrola, Deimos returned to the center of their camp with Leka.

Upon seeing Deimos and Leka enter the camp, Tamora cleared her throat to stop the side conversation Gideon and Neldo were having.

"Here's the plan for tomorrow and the coming days," Tamora began, looking all four of her subordinates in the eye.

"We will be splitting up and searching the entirety of the Sacred Four for anything unusual. If you find it, you will know that it is what we are looking for. If you happen to stumble upon it, use your Rotom phone to call me, and we will reassemble to gather intelligence at your location. Are there any questions?" Tamora said in a severe voice, once more staring all four remaining subordinates in the eye.

"No, Ma'am," all four of them said at once. Each of them understood how serious Tamora was about the mission.

"Good, get some rest; we begin at dawn tomorrow," Tamora said before spinning on her heel and striding back to her tent.

As Deimos turned to return to his tent, he noticed Gideon give a meaningful look toward Neldo and Leka. The action left him uneasy as he went to rest for the night. As he lay down in his sleeping bag, he had a gut feeling that the mission would go anything but exemplary. Something was going to happen; it was just a matter of when.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Boldore Company, Squad 9, Team 6

Knight Tamora - Solrock

Squire Gideon - Lairon

Page Leka - Sandile

Page Neldo - Shieldon

Page Deimos - Roggenrola