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Description
Dagger closed his eyes again, but only saw the same thing.

--Blood covered his arms and face. He raised his trembling arms to seeing the dripping blood for himself. A cold lump formed in his throat as he continued to stare at the droplets that fell from his hands. He didn't want to look, but his eyes wondered upward to the rest of the cavern he stood in. A woman around the age of 25 lay in a pool of her own blood. Her eyes, half open and obscured by threads of light blue hair, gazed into oblivion with no sign of life left to them. A few feet from her, two other figures lay motionless on the ground. The Charmeleon and Lopunny had deep cuts along their bodies which blood oozed from and drained them of life. Dagger was completely overwhelmed by the sight of what he had done; he gripped his head as if it was about to explode and screamed as loud as he could in agony.--

Dagger reopened his eyes; his hands were not bloodied, but were shaking and clenched fiercely to the feathers of Icarus who did not seem to notice.

The vast Sinnoh land passed under Jake's team as they flew. Haze shifted on Swift's back again, unable to find a comfortable sitting position.

"Keep moving like that and you're gonna fall off," Swift called over the wind.

Haze huffed her cheeks, "Well I'm sorry, but I'd rather get there myself than sit and wait."

Jake rolled his eyes at having to listen to Haze's complaints…again. His gaze fell on Dagger who rode silently atop of Icarus. Oliver's words ran through Jake's again, 'He killed his old partner.'

'Is it true, did he really kill his partner?' Jake thought.

"Jake? Jake!" Haze waved her hand in front of Jake's face.

Jake grabbed a handful of Swift's feathers, nearly losing his balance, "Jeez Haze, what?"

"When are we gonna get there?"

Jake looked off into the distance, shielding his eyes from the overhead sun. The ridges of Mt. Coronet were just in sight, Route 212 passed below them in a wash of rainy colors.

"Not far now…wait, what's that?" Jake pointed off toward the mountain.

Swift squinted a little to see for herself, "It's a thunderstorm, and it looks like it's heading this way."

"Judging by the wind," Icarus spoke up, "We're going to hit it before we get to the objective point."

Jake scanned the ground and pointed, "There, we can get to Team Sigma through that mountain road."

Swift and Icarus both looked and saw the winding path that led to the outskirts of the mountain ridges.

"Are you sure?" Swift called, "It's a pretty long way from there."

"Yeah, we can take care of ourselves, "Jake nodded.

Swift and Icarus swung in circles as they descended to the ground. They dropped to the earth just outside the mountain road they spotted from above. Haze slid off of Swift's back and began to stretch.

"*sigh*, finally!"

Jake and Dagger got off themselves and looked to the mountain path ahead.

Swift nudged Jake with a wing, "Good luck on your mission and watch out for the newbie."

With that, Swift and Icarus took off back to HQ. Jake stood to watch the bird pokemon fly off before getting tapped on the head a couple times by Haze.

"You are way too spacey today, didn't you hear me?" Haze said crossing her arms.

"Huh, what?"

Haze huffed her cheeks and rolled her eyes, "I said mister tall, dark, and silent is already going up the mountain."

Just as she said, Dagger was making his way up the rugged path. Jake sprinted after him and caught up in a flash.

Jake took a moment to catch his breath while Dagger spoke, "What is it?"

"I don't think you remember, but we're here as a team. You can't just go off on your own like that," Jake replied.

Dagger looked at Jake with an empty stare, "…If I must."

Haze came up herself and the trio continued their route up the mountain.

"So how long have you been with PEF?" Haze asked Dagger as they scaled the thirty foot outcrop of boulders.

Dagger merely looked over to Haze and remained silent before looking away again.

Haze frowned, "Is this your first mission?"

Again, Dagger was silent and Haze became annoyed.

"Did you transfer from another team?"

This time Dagger froze for a moment before looking for his next handhold.

"Haze, we can play twenty questions later," Jake called over his shoulder from higher up the rock wall, "Let's get back to the mission at hand."

Jake momentary distraction caused him to miss the next handhold. The next part was slow motion; Jake began to fall away from the side of the rock wall, grasping at the hollow air hoping to catch a solid surface. Haze screamed and reached futilely for her partner, each second passing like a slow, tedious heart beat. Jake continued to grasp at the air until a force locked around his arm, seizing his fall. Dagger's hand was firmly fixed around Jake's arm, carefully pulling him back to the wall to grab hold himself.

"Woah, that was close. Thanks Dagger."

Dagger continued to climb as he said tonelessly, "Be careful next time."

"Jake, are you alright," Haze said as she made her way up.

"Yeah, no problem."

The mountainous terrain kept getting rockier as Dagger led Jake and Haze through partially hidden shortcuts. The sky and sun soon became blotted out by the thunderstorm that crept over the mountain range. The thick, dull clouds threaten a downpour with each thunderclap.

"Great," Haze said as she helped Jake up the next ledge on the mountain, "Just what we need. A rain storm."

"Relax Haze, it hasn't even started to rain yet," Jake said.

Haze crossed her arms, "Still…Hey Dagger, how much farther?"

"Over the next ridge and then two kilometers to the north," Dagger called over his shoulder.

It was still pretty far, but thanks to Dagger they made better time than taking the trail.

After another half hour of bustling over jagged terrain, the slopes began to even out but remained narrow overlooking the low mountain peeks. Dagger led Jake and Haze past a giant carved boulder and held up a hand for them to stop. They all froze and let the silence go undisturbed with the exception of an occasional rolling thunder. Dagger got down low as example and crept around the boulder. Haze and Jake did the same to come to some cover that Dagger kneeled behind. Jake and Haze peeked over the cover to see Team Sigma members scurrying from one machine to another. Wild electric type pokemon were hooked up to machines like generators, but made no move to escape. Other pokemon and Team Sigma grunts were busy with either the larger computer terminals and machines or running in and out of caves in the ravine like area.

"What are they doing?" Haze whispered.

Jake rescanned the area taking note that all the pokemon with Team Sigma all wore some weird black collar or band on them, some even wore multiple.

"Not sure, but those pokemon look like they are here against their will. See the black bands?"

Haze looked closer and saw the black collar like bands that adorned the pokemon with Team Sigma. Another flicker of movement caught her sight and she instantly pointed it out to Jake and Dagger. Along one side of the opposing ravine face, pokemon peeked out from caves and crevices to investigate Team's Sigma's actions.

"This old dried out ravine became home to clans of pokemon," Dagger said, "The sediments that were carried here made settlement easy for those that live here today."

"Well, let's kick these guys out of here," Haze said pointing to the clusters of Team Sigma grunts before jumping from cover to rush in to attack.

"Wait, Haze" Jake called after her and facepalmed himself.

"Does she always act like this?" Dagger asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Jake replied as he sprang from the cover as well.

Description
Dagger closed his eyes again, but only saw the same thing.

--Blood covered his arms and face. He raised his trembling arms to seeing the dripping blood for himself. A cold lump formed in his throat as he continued to stare at the droplets that fell from his hands. He didn't want to look, but his eyes wondered upward to the rest of the cavern he stood in. A woman around the age of 25 lay in a pool of her own blood. Her eyes, half open and obscured by threads of light blue hair, gazed into oblivion with no sign of life left to them. A few feet from her, two other figures lay motionless on the ground. The Charmeleon and Lopunny had deep cuts along their bodies which blood oozed from and drained them of life. Dagger was completely overwhelmed by the sight of what he had done; he gripped his head as if it was about to explode and screamed as loud as he could in agony.--

Dagger reopened his eyes; his hands were not bloodied, but were shaking and clenched fiercely to the feathers of Icarus who did not seem to notice.

The vast Sinnoh land passed under Jake's team as they flew. Haze shifted on Swift's back again, unable to find a comfortable sitting position.

"Keep moving like that and you're gonna fall off," Swift called over the wind.

Haze huffed her cheeks, "Well I'm sorry, but I'd rather get there myself than sit and wait."

Jake rolled his eyes at having to listen to Haze's complaints…again. His gaze fell on Dagger who rode silently atop of Icarus. Oliver's words ran through Jake's again, 'He killed his old partner.'

'Is it true, did he really kill his partner?' Jake thought.

"Jake? Jake!" Haze waved her hand in front of Jake's face.

Jake grabbed a handful of Swift's feathers, nearly losing his balance, "Jeez Haze, what?"

"When are we gonna get there?"

Jake looked off into the distance, shielding his eyes from the overhead sun. The ridges of Mt. Coronet were just in sight, Route 212 passed below them in a wash of rainy colors.

"Not far now…wait, what's that?" Jake pointed off toward the mountain.

Swift squinted a little to see for herself, "It's a thunderstorm, and it looks like it's heading this way."

"Judging by the wind," Icarus spoke up, "We're going to hit it before we get to the objective point."

Jake scanned the ground and pointed, "There, we can get to Team Sigma through that mountain road."

Swift and Icarus both looked and saw the winding path that led to the outskirts of the mountain ridges.

"Are you sure?" Swift called, "It's a pretty long way from there."

"Yeah, we can take care of ourselves, "Jake nodded.

Swift and Icarus swung in circles as they descended to the ground. They dropped to the earth just outside the mountain road they spotted from above. Haze slid off of Swift's back and began to stretch.

"*sigh*, finally!"

Jake and Dagger got off themselves and looked to the mountain path ahead.

Swift nudged Jake with a wing, "Good luck on your mission and watch out for the newbie."

With that, Swift and Icarus took off back to HQ. Jake stood to watch the bird pokemon fly off before getting tapped on the head a couple times by Haze.

"You are way too spacey today, didn't you hear me?" Haze said crossing her arms.

"Huh, what?"

Haze huffed her cheeks and rolled her eyes, "I said mister tall, dark, and silent is already going up the mountain."

Just as she said, Dagger was making his way up the rugged path. Jake sprinted after him and caught up in a flash.

Jake took a moment to catch his breath while Dagger spoke, "What is it?"

"I don't think you remember, but we're here as a team. You can't just go off on your own like that," Jake replied.

Dagger looked at Jake with an empty stare, "…If I must."

Haze came up herself and the trio continued their route up the mountain.

"So how long have you been with PEF?" Haze asked Dagger as they scaled the thirty foot outcrop of boulders.

Dagger merely looked over to Haze and remained silent before looking away again.

Haze frowned, "Is this your first mission?"

Again, Dagger was silent and Haze became annoyed.

"Did you transfer from another team?"

This time Dagger froze for a moment before looking for his next handhold.

"Haze, we can play twenty questions later," Jake called over his shoulder from higher up the rock wall, "Let's get back to the mission at hand."

Jake momentary distraction caused him to miss the next handhold. The next part was slow motion; Jake began to fall away from the side of the rock wall, grasping at the hollow air hoping to catch a solid surface. Haze screamed and reached futilely for her partner, each second passing like a slow, tedious heart beat. Jake continued to grasp at the air until a force locked around his arm, seizing his fall. Dagger's hand was firmly fixed around Jake's arm, carefully pulling him back to the wall to grab hold himself.

"Woah, that was close. Thanks Dagger."

Dagger continued to climb as he said tonelessly, "Be careful next time."

"Jake, are you alright," Haze said as she made her way up.

"Yeah, no problem."

The mountainous terrain kept getting rockier as Dagger led Jake and Haze through partially hidden shortcuts. The sky and sun soon became blotted out by the thunderstorm that crept over the mountain range. The thick, dull clouds threaten a downpour with each thunderclap.

"Great," Haze said as she helped Jake up the next ledge on the mountain, "Just what we need. A rain storm."

"Relax Haze, it hasn't even started to rain yet," Jake said.

Haze crossed her arms, "Still…Hey Dagger, how much farther?"

"Over the next ridge and then two kilometers to the north," Dagger called over his shoulder.

It was still pretty far, but thanks to Dagger they made better time than taking the trail.

After another half hour of bustling over jagged terrain, the slopes began to even out but remained narrow overlooking the low mountain peeks. Dagger led Jake and Haze past a giant carved boulder and held up a hand for them to stop. They all froze and let the silence go undisturbed with the exception of an occasional rolling thunder. Dagger got down low as example and crept around the boulder. Haze and Jake did the same to come to some cover that Dagger kneeled behind. Jake and Haze peeked over the cover to see Team Sigma members scurrying from one machine to another. Wild electric type pokemon were hooked up to machines like generators, but made no move to escape. Other pokemon and Team Sigma grunts were busy with either the larger computer terminals and machines or running in and out of caves in the ravine like area.

"What are they doing?" Haze whispered.

Jake rescanned the area taking note that all the pokemon with Team Sigma all wore some weird black collar or band on them, some even wore multiple.

"Not sure, but those pokemon look like they are here against their will. See the black bands?"

Haze looked closer and saw the black collar like bands that adorned the pokemon with Team Sigma. Another flicker of movement caught her sight and she instantly pointed it out to Jake and Dagger. Along one side of the opposing ravine face, pokemon peeked out from caves and crevices to investigate Team's Sigma's actions.

"This old dried out ravine became home to clans of pokemon," Dagger said, "The sediments that were carried here made settlement easy for those that live here today."

"Well, let's kick these guys out of here," Haze said pointing to the clusters of Team Sigma grunts before jumping from cover to rush in to attack.

"Wait, Haze" Jake called after her and facepalmed himself.

"Does she always act like this?" Dagger asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Jake replied as he sprang from the cover as well.