Forward Unto Johto (Pokemon/Halo) (Patreon)

Commissioned by Stormed

Beta’d and Edited by The Grand Cogitator and Dr_Feelgood

The deck shuddered as alarm claxons sounded, and warning lights flashed. Titus swore loudly, his boots pounding along as he looked over at Jack, fury in his eyes.

“It’ll be an easy mission, you said. Piece of cake, you said. Right up your alley, you said.”

“In my defense, the actual mission should be a cakewalk,” Jack panted as the two raced for the hanger bay of the UNSC Snowy March.

The ship shuddered again, and the voice of the ship’s AI came over the intercom. “Hull breach in sector gamma. Repeat, hull breach in sector gamma…”

“Fuck me, that thing actually pierced the hull?!” Titus gasped, and paused to look out of an armored porthole. He caught sight of a green, serpentine shape squirming through the pitch black of space, then yelped as a bright beam of white light raced towards the Snowy March. He instinctively ducked, though fortunately this particular attack barely missed the frantically evading frigate.

“Come on! We’ve got to go,” Jack snarled, grabbing Titus and dragging him away.

“I saw it!” Titus gasped as they raced forward.

“Super. You can fill out what it looked like in the after action report. Either way, we’ve got to get on the Pelicans and get down there, now!”

“Are you serious!? If it takes off after us instead of the frigate, we’re toast!” Titus protested, but he ran on regardless.

There was a more gentle bucking as the ship’s main gun fired. Jack glanced down at his data pad, which showed the damage to the ship, as well as an image of their attacker. He whistled softly. “Swing and a miss. That thing is fast.”

“The hell is it!? It didn’t look like a ship, it looked like-”

“A dragon. Yes, I know,” Jack said, grimacing. “Congratulations. Now you know why you’re along.”

Titus stopped dead in his tracks, and Jack made it half a dozen meters before he skidded to a stop and turned around.

“You have to be shitting me,” Titus said, pointing to the bulkhead where the battle still raged. “Look, I have experience with exotic animals, but THAT? No way.”

“We’ll start with one of the little ones and work our way up. This is what you signed up for, soldier,” Jack said, a vicious grin on his face.

“Oh FUCK you,” Titus snarled, balling his hands into fists and racing after Jack. “You said that just to piss me off!”

“Me, a simple spook, try to piss off an ODST? Never,” Jack swore, going back to a sprint as they ran pell mell for the last few meters to the hanger bay.

Inside, the Pelicans were already warming up, along with two Longsword fighters. Jack and Titus raced up the ramp, which began to close behind them even as they buckled themselves in.

“Took you two long enough!” the pilot called. “Strap yourselves in! We’re getting the hell out of here!”

As the Pelican powered up, the two Longswords launched, racing out into the black to take on the monster that was still dueling a UNSC warship, and by what Titus could tell, winning. Granted, the Snowy March was a light frigate, built more for troop transport than anything else, but it was still a warship with a MAC cannon and missile pods.

Strapping himself in, Titus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He’d almost rather be launching in a drop pod. He’d done that in training, and once in combat on Earth of all places, but he’d always thought he’d rather ride down to a planet in a Pelican drop ship than one of those coffins.

Jack pulled up his data pad, watching the tactical display as the two Longswords raced to engage the monster. There was a view from one of the Longsword’s hull cameras, which Jack pulled up, zooming in to give a better view of their attacker. The thing was huge, a dozen meters long, with fin-like protrusions along its serpentine body. It undulated through space, closing in on the fighter rapidly.

“Engaging,” the fighter pilot’s voice said, tight and strained. The screen shuddered slightly, and rounds from the Longsword’s eight 50mm guns raced away. Several of them slammed into the thing, which twisted and roared silently. A moment later, it disappeared from the screen.

“What the hell, where did it-” the pilot cried, then a moment later he screamed as the hull camera went dark.

Jack muttered something and switched to the other Longsword’s view. The monster had wrapped itself around the first Longsword, and was crushing it in its coils. Titus winced as atmosphere and flames erupted from the trapped Longsword.

“Shit, shit, shit!” the second pilot gasped, and a moment later two missiles sped away from his craft. They impacted the beast in silent balls of fire. But when the light faded, the creature, whatever it was, seemed unscathed. It unwrapped itself, and then vanished again.

“What the hell…” Titus muttered, peering at the screen. “Where did it-”

“FUCK!” the pilot screamed.

Green coils appeared near the camera on the second longsword, then the signal was lost.

“We’ve lost contact with Dagger 1 and Dagger 2,” the pilot of the Pelican said softly, her voice ragged with pain.

“Is it coming after us?” Jack said, closing his eyes and bowing his head.

“Negative. Bogey 1 is moving off to engage the Snowy March again. We’re in the clear. I hope it was worth it,” the pilot answered, her voice tight.

ONI bastard, went unsaid.

Jack tucked away his datapad, slumping in his harness and wiping perspiration from his forehead.

“Jack, the fuck is that thing?” Titus asked quietly.

His old friend gave him a tight lipped smile. “That, marine, is what we are here to find out.”

The rest of the ride down to the planet was relatively uneventful, with no further hostiles detected. They slipped into the atmosphere with only a little bouncing, and the pilot’s voice spoke again.

“The weather outside is a balmy 25C, atmo is a pleasant 77/22 mix of nitrogen and oxygen, pressure is a perfect one atmo, gravity is .97G. Welcome to hell, gentlemen.”

“Nice place for such awful monsters,” Jack muttered.

For the first time, their other companion in the back of the Pelican spoke. “Don’t let your guard down, marine. Beauty can hide deadly claws.”

Jack looked over at the furthest jump seat from his, where what looked like a tall teenage girl sat. Her expression was placid, but the number of weapons and the MJOLNIR armor she wore bespoke what she was: Spartan.

“I, uh, will stay sharp, uh M-119,” Titus promised, trying not to sound condescending. From what he could tell, she really was a kid, but she’d insisted on going by her letter designation. She was a cold eyed killer from what he could tell, and Jack had told him that despite her looks, she was a fully trained Spartan. One out of a job since the war had ended, which was how she’d ended up working for ONI.

M-119 nodded, then reached down and picked up her helmet, setting it on her head. She took out her SMG and stroked the barrel like it was some kind of pet, resting it in her lap.

Titus shuddered slightly and looked away. He’d never actually met a Spartan, until he’d met M-119 a few weeks ago when they’d first been briefed for the mission. The stories he’d heard, especially about Master Chief, who’d died in defense of Earth and saved it in the process. This Spartan though…child soldiers? Well, he was sworn to ONI secrecy anyway, so it wasn’t like he could talk about it.

After what felt like an eternity, the pilot’s voice came over the intercom again. “Alright, I’ve got a good spot to set us down. Up in the mountains, close to a road, but away from any settlements.”

Jack nodded, examining a topographical map on his data pad. “Perfect, right near our suggested LZ. Any word from the Snowy March?”

“Negative. I think it’s safe to assume they bugged out. We’re on our own for now,” the pilot said, her voice strained.

“As we figured.” Jack smiled at Titus, and flashed one at M-119 as well. “Well boys and girls, we’re on our own, just like we planned. Who’s ready to go for a walk?”

“Affirmative,” M-119 said.

“Oorah,” Titus grunted, and checked his assault rifle.

“Now, before we touch down, remember our objectives,” Jack said, checking his own pistol. “We’re to make contact with the locals: Friendly like. We know from SIGINT that there’s humans down here. Our next objective is to capture some of the local fauna. Again, SIGINT tells us that these ‘pokemon’ are indigenous life forms unlike anything we’re familiar with.”

“And are we going to stick them in our balls?” Titus asked dryly, thinking of the rather odd piece of intel they’d gotten about how Pokemon were supposedly tamed.

“That would be helpful, yes!” Jack said brightly. “The good news is the local lingo hasn’t drifted too much from standard English. So to repeat: this is an intelligence and recon mission. Just blowing up the locals isn’t what we’re here for.”

“Affirmative,” M-119 stated, though Titus had to wonder why the hell you brought a Spartan along if you didn’t want something thoroughly blown to hell.

Everyone checked the seals on their armor and suits, and the hatch of the Pelican hissed open. Just because the air mix was good didn’t mean there weren’t nasty viruses and microbes that could ruin your day still.

M-119 led the way out of the Pelican, which was just fine by Titus. She stormed out, twin SMGs at the ready, scanning the arena as she dashed to cover. Titus followed more slowly, looking around as he exited the ramp of the ship. He paused, forgetting the danger for just a moment to take in the sights.

They were in a picturesque mountain meadow. The nearby trees were a mixture of pine and juniper, with an occasional oak or maple. Around the ship grew knee high grass, with bright wildflowers swaying in the breeze. Not far off, a babbling brook cut its way down a rocky slope, with mossy rocks poking out of it. They were not too far from a rocky slope, which descended sharply over a thousand meters to what looked like a valley with a wide river running through the center below them.

“Jesus,” Titus breathed. He was sorely tempted to take off his helmet, and breathe in what had to be crisp mountain air. “It’s beautiful.”

“And dangerous. Eyes up, Marine,” Jack said, shoving Titus on the back.

He grunted and hurried over to a tree at the edge of the meadow, looking around. He didn’t see anything but what looked like virgin forest, and nothing moving but plants swaying in the breeze. He looked around for any signs of wildlife, but didn’t spot anything. Just a peaceful forest and meadow.

“I’ve got something,” M-119 said, her tone utterly neutral. “Possible native lifeform.”

Titus and Jack turned to see the Spartan near the creek, and both dashed over. They found the Spartan standing over the water, where an orange fish swam lazily in the current. The creature was somewhat large, being over a meter long, and looking rather large and heavy, especially for a freshwater fish. It was so large, its upper fin stuck up out of the shallow creek bed, the fish didn’t seem to mind, swimming in a slow circle in a deeper pool.

“OK, it looks, uh…kinda derpy,” Jack said, frowning down at the fish. Its eyes peered up at them, vacant looking and oddly intelligent, but at the same time completely blank. “But records indicate that this is some sort of pokemon. We need to capture it, alive if possible.”

“Well I guess that’s me then,” Titus said, making a face. He looked around, then grabbed a promising looking tree branch. He chopped it off, shaving off the pine needles and twigs sticking out of it.

“I could simply grab it,” M-119 said, her gun steadily tracking the fish. “Or shoot it.”

“No, there’s a proper way to do these things,” Titus said, tying a string to the pole, then bending a pin into a hook shape. He bent down and rooted around in the mud. “Help me find a worm or something.”

After a bit of digging in the loose earth, Titus did indeed find an earthworm, which wriggled mightily as he pulled it out. It looked like a standard Earth worm, and he stuck it to a pin from his pack, then tied some string to his newly made fishing pole. He tossed the line into the pool, the worm sinking beneath the surface.

“That’s your plan?” Jack asked, sounding half amused as Titus sat cross legged on a rock.

“Shut up, it’s a good plan,” Titus grumbled. “Didn’t you ever go fishing as a kid?”

“During survival training, though we used a spear or our bare hands,” M-119 commented. For a Spartan, she sure was chatty. Weren’t they supposed to be all stoic?

“Yeah, well, we want to catch it, not- WOAH!” Titus jerked the line as the fish bit into it. He tugged, expecting a mighty fight. Instead, he easily pulled the fish out of the pool, where it flopped onto the grass.

The fish opened and closed its mouth, emitting an odd cry. “Mmmmgggkkkrrrppp!”

“That’s weird, fish don’t normally do that, right?” Titus said, standing over the weakly flopping fish and scratching his head.

“It’s a carp of some kind from our sigint,” Jack said, frowning down at it. He looked up at Jack, still vaguely amused. “So, now what?”

“Uh, well, we should…put it in a bucket or something?” Titus said, looking around sheepishly. He hadn’t actually thought this far ahead. The fish continued to flop around, slowly moving back towards the water.

M-119 reached down and picked the fish up by its tail, causing it to hang there, blinking stupidly and looking at her as she lifted it up to eye height. “It would make a filling meal.”

“Mmmmkkkrrrppp!” the fish cried, and began to struggle violently, almost as if it had understood the Spartan, flopping around wildly in her iron grip.

“I mean, we could take tissue samples I suppose,” Jack agreed. “We-”

There was a bright green flash from the forest, and M-119 dropped the fish, her gun snapping up. A three round burst ripped from it as a viridian streak flashed towards them. Titus and Jack swore, both going for their guns, but time seemed to slow, the air turning to jelly around them. The sound of a clock ticking became audible, with a tick…tick…….tick………….tick…..and then it stopped.

Titus could only watch as the green streak flew up towards him. The light faded revealing some sort of…fairy? It looked to be about half a meter tall, with large, bright blue eyes, and insect-like wings that blurred as they fluttered, keeping the creature aloft. It was green, with a head that looked a bit like an onion bulb with two antennas poking out of the front. There were two arms and legs, and a mouth that was turned down in a frown as the little creature observed them.

What the fuck. Titus thought. This is crazy.

The sprite circled around M-119 first, flying in a lazy circle. It bobbed up by her head, cocking its own to one side. Impossibly, the Spartan was still moving, though at a glacial pace, her guns trying to come to bear on the creature. It giggled, then moved forward, and kissed M-119 on the rim of her helmet.

Titus gaped as the Mjonlir armor, some of the most durable material that the UNSC could produce, the sort of stuff that could take a round from a tank and somehow survive, shattered. It dissolved to its component parts, falling off M-119, exposing her face. She fell to the ground, apparently out of the time stop, though the pieces of her armor floated in the air, slowly drifting outwards and down. She stood, a look of shock on her face as she looked at the spritely creature. Then she instantly fell into a combat stance, punches flying out in rapid succession.

The fairy creature giggled, flying up out of the Spartain’s reach, which only caused M-119 to leap up, a flying elbow striking for the fairy. It just dodged to the side, slapping M-119’s forearm. She slowed back to a crawl, drifting upwards, a look of stoic resolve on her face as she flew through the debris of her armor.

Then the fairy drifted down, floating in front of Jack. A look of what could only be described as annoyance flashed over its face as it circled his head. It simply floated down, then touched Jack’s gun, which was leaving his holster at an agonizingly slow pace. The gun too fell to its component parts. The fairy nodded, then flew up to Jack’s face.

Another warrior. Sad. Perhaps I should send you and the sneak back to the beyond. It would be appropriate.

I, what?! You can talk!? Titus thought, his eyes widening in shock.

Hmmm? Such primitive thoughts. Well, there’s not a lot- oh. What’s this?

An image of Stripes, sleeping in Titus’s arms right after her hatching, his hands still slick with blood from feeding her. He felt a horrible pang at the memory. He’d been so happy in that moment. He felt a tear form, as another memory flashed. Stripes, bloody and dead in his arms, his hands slick with blood again, this time hers. A dead Jackal lay not far away, and Titus’ leg burned from the plasma fire that had nearly killed him.

She’d saved his life, and given hers.

You weep, human. Why?

Numbly, Titus responded automatically. She was my friend. My partner. She…she saved my life. I miss her…

Hmmm…

The sprite flitted around Titus for a few moments. He sweated nervously as she…? The voice felt female, anyway, few behind his back. At last the fairy flew in front of Titus’ face, studying him.

Well, if Ray-Ray can no longer keep Outsiders away…I suppose you’re not the worst of the lot…

Ray-Ray? Titus’ asked, his mind reeling. What was this? What was happening?

He-he! The fairy tittered, floating up in front of Titus face, tucking her hands behind her back and giggling at him. Ray-Ray is scary, but I’m nice! Even if I am the Guardian of the Forest. Very well! I think you’re nice, Titus Rann. You can stay! You and Mel.

Mel?

I don’t like the Sneak, but he’s your friend, so I won’t hurt him, don’t worry. Your very own adventure is about to start, Titus! Try to have fun! And take good care of your friends. I know you will: You loved Stripes, after all.

The fairy flew forward, and Titus’ eyes crossed. She kissed him on the nose, and his armor shattered around him. She flew back, winking at him.

Goodbye, Titus and Mel! I’ll find some friends to send your way, don’t worry. Here, you’ll need these. Farewell! We shall meet again. When next we meet, I hope you’ll both be happier.

Six red balls appeared in a flash of light, and the fairy flew off, vanishing into the trees.

Time suddenly began to flow at its normal pace, and Titus staggered as his armor and weapons fell to the ground around him, turned to scrap. He blinked stupidly, then let out a yell as the ground shook.

M-119 had landed, and was looking around, falling into a ready stance even as her armor clattered to the ground around her. Titus was surprised: She really was a kid, no more than 16 or so, even if her toned muscles made her look a bit older. She still had the gangly arms and legs of someone not quite finished growing, even if she was nearly two meters tall without the armor.

“It’s gone,” M-119 said, her tone calm and steady.

“Yeah. Whatever the hell it was,” Jack said, slowly shaking his head.

“Mgggkkkrrp?”

Titus blinked, and realized the fish was laying on the ground in front of him, blinking stupidly in the sunlight. On impulse, he picked up one of the balls the fairy had left. The top half was red, but the bottom was white, with a black line separating the two halves. He pushed the button at the front, and the ball expanded, quadrupling in size from the size of a golf ball to that of a softball.

“I wonder,” he muttered, and pointed at the front of the fish.

“Woah, Titus! Hold on, we need to-” Jack began, but he tossed the ball down at the fish.

There was a flash of light, and the fish glowed, then was sucked into the ball. It lay on the ground, rocking back and forth weakly. Once, twice…three times. Then there was a soft “ping” sound, and it lay still.

Bending over, Titus picked up the ball, holding it in his hand. His own reflection stared back at him, and he shook his head. “Huh.”

“Well damn,” Jack said, coming over and studying the ball. “I guess that’s a real Pokeball. Shit, I didn’t think it would work like that. What kind of technology is it?”

“Well, the brief said you can capture them with these, right?” Titus said. He turned, and tossed the ball onto the grass. “Come on, Floppy.”

“Mgggkkkrrpp!” the fish appeared on the ground with a flash, the ball bouncing back through the air to Titus, who snagged it. He went over and picked up the fish, examining.

“Huh, you look healthy. That ball comfortable, Floppy?”

To his shock, the fish nodded at him. “Krrrpppp.”

“Is it intelligent?” M-119 asked, coming over and looming over Titus. Her stoic expression vanished for a moment, replaced by genuine curiosity. Then it was schooled back to neutrality in an instant.

“That’s…something we’ll have to research,” Jack called from the Pelican. “Hey, Lt. Gray, how you holding up?”

“Fine, just running some checks, why?” the voice of the pilot called back.

“Just checking. How’s your sidearm?”

There was a moment’s silence, then loud and voluble swearing. “Where’d it go? The hell!?”

“Check the ship's systems for me, please.”

“I just ran a fucking- I mean, yes sir,” Gray said grudgingly. Technically, Jack was a Lieutenant as well, and of equal rank with Grey, but he was ONI, and in charge of the mission. After a few moments, there was more swearing.

“The fuck!? Our gun is just GONE. System won’t even respond! Everything else is green, I- hold on.”

“Sorry, Floppy, take a break,” Jack said, and pressed the button on Floppy’s pokeball. The pokemon vanished back into it, and he tucked it into his pouch. He bent down and picked up the other five balls, then walked up the ramp to find M-119 inspecting the ship's armory. Instead of the rack of rifles, ammo, grenades, and pistols, there was only bits of metal and plastic.

“Well, shit,” Titus said.

M-119 nodded, then turned to him. “How’s your knife?”

Titus pulled it out of its holster, flipping the blade over and examining it, then holding it out to the Spartan.

She shook her head, stepping back from the weapons rack. She had to slouch slightly, as she was too tall for the cramped hold even without her armor. Titus’ own head barely brushed the ceiling, and he had to bend his knees slightly to keep from banging his own head. “Knives are fine. All guns are destroyed. Ammo too.”

“Weird,” Titus said, slipping his knife into the hoster. He considered, then held out three of the balls to M-119. “Here you go…Mel.”

“Thanks,” she said, taking them, then froze. Her eyes snapped up to meet Titus’, pupils wide. Then he found himself pinned to the bulkhead, a vice-like grip around his throat.

“How,” Mel said quietly, her tone soft and deadly. “That’s classified. I never told you. Never even told the ONI spook. Did he tell you?”

“F-fairy,” Titus gasped. “Voice in my head.”

Mel studied him for a long moment, then let out a sigh. She let go, and Titus slumped down, gasping and massaging his throat.

“When we’re on a mission, I’m M-119,” Mel said, her tone firm, but flat. Then, she looked away, and to Titus’ shock, she blushed faintly. “When we’re not…when we’re off duty…Melissa is fine. Not Mel.”

“Uh, alright,” Titus agreed, swallowing. “Didn’t mean to offend.”

“It’s fine. Sorry. I’m jumpy. I’m not used to…other people…knowing my name,” her expression became pained, and for a moment, she didn’t look like a killing machine, or even a teenager. She looked like a warweary veteran, with the thousand yard stare Titus was all too familiar with. He’d seen it in his own mirror some mornings.

Earth had been his first and last combat drop. But those weeks of hell…He hadn’t been a greenhorn after that fight. Stripes had been far from the only friend he’d seen die.

Titus sat in one of the booster seats, looking forward to where Jack and Grey were talking loudly, apparently trying to diagnose the problems the Pelican had. To his surprise, Mel sat across from him, she just didn’t look like a Melissa, folding her hands in front of her and looking pensive for a moment, before again that Spartan mask slipped over her face.

“So. Were you at Earth?” Titus asked.

She was silent for a long moment, studying Titus. “Spartan ops are classified.”

“This whole thing is classified to hell and back. Shit, I was rated top secret. Things I probably shouldn’t tell you. But I was always working for ONI, even as a green ODST. Started young. I tried to sign up at 16, got rejected initially, but…”

Was that a half smile that quirked Mel’s lips? Titus couldn’t tell. “I signed up rather young too. I take it ONI grabbed you?”

“Yeah. I was born on a colony. Reikland System. Pretty agrarian. Was always good with animals. Got tapped for…” Titus chuckled. “I’ll tell if you will?”

“That is against opsec,” Mel said sternly. Then she was quiet for a moment. “I was not at Earth. I was…elsewhere. I am not…I am not one of the Spartan’s you’ve heard of. We were….the new generation.”

Titus was quiet, his heart pounding in his chest. He’d grown up hearing of the legendary exploits of the Spartans, the heroes who never knew defeat. Master Chief and his band of heroes who’d driven off the Covenant time and again, until finally defeating them at Earth. But if there were more…

“I can’t say much, but…the battle I fought…it was bloody. Of my fam-of my company… I was the only survivor,” Mel said, her tone filled with pain. “I was picked up by ONI, and assigned to this mission. I do not have experience with animals, but…I am a Spartan.”

Titus nodded soberly. “I’m sure it was a hell of a fight. I was at Earth with my…partner. Stripes. She was a gene modded organism. Wasn’t combat ready. Whole program wasn’t. But at Earth…we threw everything we had into the blender.”

The robotic features of the Spartan softened into those of tender compassion, and she made no effort to wipe them away this time. She didn’t speak, only nodded, then held out a hand to Titus. He took it, and she shook. Her grip was gentle, not firm, as if that of a man holding something fragile. Considering Spartan strength…Titus was grateful. He made his grip firm, but didn’t try to make it crushing. He’d lose that contest.

“Melissa-119, the last of Delta Company.”

“Titus Rann, the last of Project Jurassic.”

That prompted a raised eyebrow from Mel, but she didn’t inquire further. Simply releasing Titus’ hand. They sat in companionable silence for a while, both of them studying the pokeballs they’d received from the odd fairy.

After nearly an hour, during which Grey and Jack went out and physically inspected the now completely empty gun mount, Jack came back, flashing his perfectly white smile. “Glad to see you two are friends now! Well, as normal, things are FUBAR. However, it’s not a complete loss. We’ve still got our comms gear, and I managed to get in touch with HQ. Mission is still a go. They’ll try to send in reinforcements and resupply, but we were always out on a long lead for this one. More freedom that way!”

And more likelihood of you dying and ONI denying any knowledge you ever existed, Titus thought to himself, but he just sat up and tried to look attentive.

“You two are to set out and try to make contact with the locals. Like I said, comms equipment is fine, and, well, locals have a crude comms network we can abuse for over the horizon stuff. Seems like late 20th century stuff, so it won’t be weird if you’re seen making a phone call.”

“Ruh roh,” Titus said, keeping his face. “Split up and rook for crues?”

Kathy gave him a blank look, apparently back in Spartan mode, but Jack laughed and slapped Titus on the shoulder. “That’s right, Scoob! Grey and I will stay back here at base camp. Things get hot, we can roll in and extract you. No weapons, mind, but the locals will piss their pants to see this bird come down on them anyway. As far as we can tell, tech level is 20th century like I said, so they have fixed wing aircraft, but nothing like this. Still, we’d like to keep things quiet like.”

“Sir, with all due respect, do you really think I won’t stand out in a crowd?” Mel asked, her expression and tone utterly deadpan.

He shrugged. “You’re outside the norm, sure, but if I didn’t know any better I’d just think you’re really tall and muscular. Not anything totally out of the ordinary.”

Jack pulled out his data pad, then projected a map onto the bulkhead. “There’s two nearby regions. To the East is the Kanto region, to the West, Johto. We’ll have you both head into the Johto region first. Mingle with the locals, scout the place out, and, well, catch as many of the pokemon as you can.”

“You want us to catch them all?” Titus asked.

“That’s right, marine. Gotta catch ‘em all!” Jack laughed. “There’s something like 1000 known species of pokemon from what we can tell. Find as many of them as you can, and collect them for transport back to Earth.”

Titus and Mel nodded, then Jack became much more serious. “More importantly…find these Legendary and Mystical pokemon. That fairy thing…that was probably Celebi. Higher ups think…well. I can’t say much, but they think this is some sort of advanced technology left behind by an advanced civilization. If you can find any ruins or relics, we’re very interested in those. But definitely pokemon like Celebi. Capture it at any cost.”

“Alive?” Mel asked, her tone neutral.

“Preferably. Dead if you have to,” Jack answered, his own expression grim.

Titus felt a pang. The little fairy hadn’t seemed evil. Mischievous, yes, but not malicious. If Celebi could shatter armor like that, killing them shouldn’t have been an issue.

Have fun on your new adventure!

Titus nodded, but doubts began to stir within him. Still, for now, he’d follow orders.

A new world awaited.