-Legolas

Ash had been silent ever since the convoy left Viridian. He was riding in the third truck in the convoy with Brock, Dom, Tracy, and three other men. Actually they were riding in an APC, or Armored Personnel Carrier. It was the only one that the small group of Militiamen had. He had learned from Tracy that they had found it in a military junkyard. His men had fixed it back up into running order. One of the men stood with his half of his body out of a little hole on the top. He manned a small machine gun mounted on the carrier.

After they had been riding for an hour or so, Ash spoke up and said,

"Where exactly are we going?"

Tracy answered, "We're going to meet up with my remaining troops, they've been stationed in Vermilion. They sent me the message to move out."

Ash asked another question, "How many?"

"Oh, about 30 I'd say. 25 men, 5 vehicles."

Ash shook his head, "80 men? That's it?"

"Hey, I told you we were a small force!" Tracy replied.

"And how the heck are you going to defeat a terrorist army with 80 men?"

"Don't worry about it!" said Tracy smiling. "Once we get into Johto, we can liberate small towns. The civilian's will join. Trust Me"

Ash just shook his head again. He didn't like risking his life for a worthless cause. "Let me get this straight, you plan to overthrow Black Moon with a bunch of kids?" He asked.

"Yeah, that’s pretty much it." said Tracy.

Before Ash could say anything more the driver of the APC yelled back,

"Sir we're coming up on Vermilion City!"

"Ok." Tracy said, waving at him. Then he turned to Ash. "We've managed to get a hold of a small sea transport. Once we make contact with our reinforcements, we can move out."

Ash nodded. Then about 10 minutes later, the driver said, "Sir we've arrived."

The back of the APC fell open and they climbed out. Ash saw that they were at the docks. There was a young man standing by a sea transport Tracy immediately walked up to him.

"Jake! It's good to see you again!" Tracy said shaking the man's hand.

"You too Tracy!" said Jake.

"This is Ash, Brock, and Dom." said Tracy pointing.

"It's good to meet you all," said Jake shaking each one of their hands.

"We've got the transport loaded and ready to go" said Jake to Tracy.

"Okay!" Tracy said. Turning back to his men he yelled, "Get the trucks loaded on!"

"Yes sir!" The trucks slowly began to move one after another onto the transport.

"I hope your ready to go!" Said Jake.

"Ready as ever!" said Ash. Dom and Brock nodded.

As they began to walk toward the transport, Dom asked,

"Where are we going?"

Jake answered,

"We're going to Arsela."

Brock spoke up,

"That's that small port town on the coast isn't it?"

Jake nodded. "It was seized by Black Moon a few days ago, and we suspect that they're going to use it to launch an offensive on Kanto. It's not heavily guarded, we should be able to take it with out much trouble."

They climbed onto the deck as the men finished their loading. Then the boat started up and slowly began to pull away from the shore.

"So what's the plan?" Ash asked.

Tracy answered, "We're going to put ashore a small team on the beach about 10 miles away. We can't use the port, Intel reports that’s the one place they're guarding well. After they've gone ashore, they'll infiltrate the town. This shouldn't be difficult, for the walls are unpatrolled, and short."

"What do we do then?" Brock asked.

Tracy continued, "Once the team is inside they will find the barracks, it's this building here. Tracy pulled out a photo and handed it to Ash. "This is a satellite photo we stole from the Johto Army Archives in Vermilion."

Ash looked at the photo and then at Jake,

"You guys have been busy!" he said.

Jake smiled, "That’s our job!"

Turning back to Tracy, Ash asked, "What do we do with it?"

Tracy's answer was blunt. "Blow it up." he said. "Once that building, and most of the men inside of it, are destroyed, we can launch an attack with the rest of our troops."

"It sounds like a suicide mission." Dom said.

"Our whole cause is suicide." Tracy said. "But that’s not going to stop us. We'll probably die either way, but at least this way, we'll die knowing we did something."

Ash nodded silently, all his doubts were gone. If he were going to die, he would die for the cause. He yawned loudly.

"Jeez, I’m beat…" Ash said.

"There's a cot in the cabin." Jake said.

"Thanks…" Ash replied in mid yawn.

Ash walked into the cabin and took removed the holster that was attached to his belt, and set it down on a small cabinet. He then fell back on the bed heavily. He lay on his back with his hands behind his head staring at the ceiling thinking, about Misty, Pikachu, John and Lex, his mom, and what they were doing. Ash fell asleep slowly, with the thoughts still alive in his head.

Ash was awoken by a voice one hour later,

"Ash."

"Ash."

"ASH!"

"Hmm? What?" said Ash sitting up quickly. Dom was standing next to the bed.

"It's time." he said.

Ash nodded. Then he jumped out of bed and put on his holster. He then rushed out onto the deck. It was silent chaos. Men were making all the needed preparations for the attack. Not a word was exchanged between the troops. Ash could see the fear in their eyes. He spotted Tracy and Jake standing by a large covered object. He walked over to them.

"Hey." he said softly "What's this?"

Tracy turned around. "This is a large machine gun we found in the basement. Apparently it was thrown away as junk." He took off the large tarp that was covering it. Ash could see that Tracy was right. The gun was missing it's plated covering, and the barrel was rusted.

"What are you going to do with it? Ash asked.

"We're going to try to fix it." Jake said.

"Good luck…" Ash said sarcastically.

A light rain began. The drops hit the deck and exploded in tiny droplets.

The rain continued for about ten more minutes and then stopped as soon as it had started. The sky above them cleared and Ash could see stars twinkling in the sky. He looked down and saw not at all such a pleasant sight. The beach loomed ahead in front of them. Dark and very uninviting. Brock walked up to him.

"This is it." Ash said.

Brock nodded. "You scared?"

Ash shook his head "Who me??"

"Ash! Brock!"

They turned around. Jake was motioning to them. They walked over.

"You guys ready?" he asked. They nodded.

"Good." Said Jake smiling. "Ash. Brock. You're heading the beach landing."

"Fun…" said Ash.

"Also," said Jake continuing, "I'd like to introduce you to Tom Clark.

A small boy stepped forward. Ash recognized him as the small nine-year-old boy he saw in troop tent.

"Hi!" Ash said smiling.

"Hello sir!" Tom replied. "I'm going to do my best! I'll fight em' all!"

"He reminds me of someone…" said Brock casting a glance at Ash.

"Tom's the one that’s going to blow up the barracks." said Jake. "Keep him safe."

Ash nodded. Then he knelt down so he could level himself off with the young boy.

"Are you scared?" asked Ash.

"No sir! Not at all!" replied Tom.

Ash grinned. "Uh…not even a little?"

Tom shook his head. "Nope!"

"Good…uh…me neither!" said Ash, standing up. "Let's go."

Ash, Brock, and Tom walked to an inflatable raft the was already being lowered into the water. They got in and sat down. There were seven other men in the raft. Ash looked at each one of their faces. They each showed fear.

"Don't worry guys!!!" said Ash lightheartedly. "We’ll be ok!"

They nodded silently.

"Heck," said Ash continuing. "Black Moon morons don’t know what’s commin do they?"

The men smiled and shook their heads.

"Then lets do it!" said Ash "The first campaign!"

Shouts rose from not only the raft, but from the boat as well, Ash was unaware he had an audience.

The boat touched the water, Brock started the silent motor, and the boat slowly began to make its way towards the shore.