One young soldier dropped to his knees on the rocky ground. His hands shook so badly he couldn't pick it up. His eyes were wide, fixed on the mountain. Tears mixed with dust on his cheeks. They had just heard that they would be charging against so many Pokemon.
The soldiers turned their gaze to where they were supposed to charge. The sight stole their breath. Thousands of Pokémon thundered down Mt. Silver like a living avalanche. Onix roared as they slithered, their stone bodies crashing through trees. Rhydon stampeded in packs, horns lowered, shaking the earth with every step. Golem rolled like boulders, smashing everything in their path.
Ursaring charged on all fours, claws tearing up the ground. Steelix burst from caves, metal bodies gleaming, tails whipping like wrecking balls. Above, Crobat swarms blotted the sky, . Fearow screeched, diving at anything that moved.
And even a Tyranitar's Hyper Beam carved a smoking trench through the slope.
The soldiers' faces were pale. Some whispered prayers. Others gripped their Poké Balls so tight their knuckles turned white. A ranger's hand slipped, and his Noctowl nearly flew off in panic.
'They're terrified,' Gladion thought as he looked at the soldiers and knew that they had the right to be scared.
'And they should be.' He remembered his own first real battle where his life was in danger. There were not many such instances but it was during the start of his journey as a trainer when he was attacked by bandits. It was also the first time that he took a life of a person.
Today was no different. His stomach twisted. 'I'm scared too.' Gladion thought because he was going to face and angry Legendary in a life-death battle.
But he had Latios and Latias. If death came, they'd pull him out. These soldiers? They had no legendaries. No one to protect them. No one to help them escape. Just their oath. Just their duty.
But the soldiers had swore to protect Indigo when they took an oath as a soldier of the region and today was the day to honour that oath. An oath to protect the region and the citizens with their lives.
Heck, if it was not for the same oath that he took as the gym leader, he would not be here too.
If it were not for that, he'd be home, safe with his Pokémon. Even with Latios and Latias, there can still be casualties among his Pokemon.
There were thousands of wild Pokémon out there. It was pure chaos. And in that chaos, his team might face a casuality.
A stray Flamethrower from Moltres could kill one of his Pokemon with weak defence like Umbreon, Nyx, in an instant. One mistake, and his family, his Pokémon, could be gone.
He shook his head. 'Focus. Let's not think about anything negative. We are going to make it out of here alive.'
Gladion looked at the scared soldiers.
He needed these soldiers. To reach Moltres, he needed them to hold the tide. Alone, he'd be swallowed.
Even if he asks Latias or Latios to teleport him straight to Moltres, he would needed people to held back the other Pokemon while he fights the Moltres or risk being surrounded while fighting a Legendary.
He had to fix this.
"There's no point standing around," Gladion said, voice cutting through the noise. "We'll only be sitting ducks. Ready your Pokémon. Let's move."
A soldier near the front, barely twenty, looked up. His voice cracked. "Be honest, sir… are we all… going to our deaths?"
Gladion met his eyes. No lies. "Yes. Against that many Pokémon, even I can't promise you'll survive."
The young man swallowed. "Then… if we're dying anyway, you're saying it's better to die fighting?"
"I am," Gladion said boldly.
Another soldier, older, stepped forward. "But if we're dead either way, who cares? We could disobey. Run. It wouldn't matter, right?"
Gladion's gaze swept the crowd, thousands of soldiers, rangers, trainers. Shock rippled through them. He took a deep breath.
"You're right," he said. "Everything you thought mattered, your hopes, your dreams, your happy moments, none of it stops a fireball or a Thunderbolt from ripping through you. You'll bleed out on the dirt, and the world won't pause."
He paused. Silence fell, heavy as the mountain.
"But we all die someday," Gladion's voice rose, strong and clear. "Does that make our lives meaningless? Does that mean there was no point in being born?"
He stepped forward, boots crunching.
"Would you say that about our fallen comrades? The ones who died in the Infinite Pokémon War? The soldiers who held the line while cities burned? Were their lives meaningless?"
His voice thundered now, echoing off the stone walls.
"They were NOT! Their memory lives in us! The brave fallen! The heartbroken fallen! Their lives mean something because we remember. Because we fight. And as we charge to certain death, we trust the next generation to remember us and to do the same! Indigo soldiers don't break! We don't run! We PUSH FORWARD!"
The soldiers straightened. Eyes hardened. Hands steadied.
"INDIGO SOLDIERS SCREAM OUT! SOLDIERS RAAAAAAGE!"
The base exploded into motion. Poké Balls flew open. Rider Pokémon burst out, Rapidash, Dodrio, Tauros, Arcanine. Soldiers mounted up, faces fierce.
Rangers called flyers, Noctowl, Pidgeot, Staraptor. The air filled with roars, neighs, battle cries.
"WAHHHHH!"
-----Author Notes------
Thankyou Chartso_, Balor, Thomas Kerslake and Andrew Kroupa for supporting me!
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