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ToT Side story 6: Beginning of the insurrection

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Ruins, the smell of ashes, dried blood… all of these things Ivanna, Resin and Percy had to encounter while they were evaluating the damages of the city while the night was passing. Some sectors were almost gone, like the surroundings of the dock district and a part of the same. Others, like the south part were relatively intact as the rest had different levels of damage; making between from one third to a half of the city with different categories of destruction. Some of the warriors reported that one last pocket of resistance remained in the northwest part and the rest were already cleaned up. But the commander was still uneasy, as she was keeping her eyes in anything that didn’t look what it seemed.  At some point, they decided to rest near of what was left of a house in the eastern side of the city. The sight of their buildings destroyed and part of their citizens dead, placed a great burden into the tabirans.

 

“I hoped I would never see this kind of devastation” Resin sighed.

“Me too” Percy nodded.

“I cannot agree with you in that” Ivanna was looking to the outskirts.

“How so?”

“Rebellions, uprisings, civil wars, terrorist attacks… it’s the everyday’s bread to my guild; this thing here is more common than seeing a Tentacruel fly”

“You mean… you have to deal with this more often?” Resin asked.

“For a guild that has presence in almost every corner of the Savitaran continent, yes; also that we’re living in an unstable political situation”

“Power struggle?”

“That would be the best scenario, but things are more complicated than that; there have been tensions in the last century, the countries are starting to get suspicious from one to another, building factions in secret in case of a war erupts with subsequent increase in weaponry and researches in the matter; some nations want to keep the peace; while in others, you need move something a little to make the whole thing blow”

“And Trench is related in some way?” Percy asked.

“His case goes beyond the level of tension or threat, since he acted completely on his own; it’s not only power and territories he’s seeking, it’s something else and that something motivated him to fight everyone”

“I don’t know if Sela and the rest of us would have time to hear it, but what do you really know about him? Since it was your first time fighting head on, but not encountering him”

 

Since they’ve recovered their energies, she stood up and moved her head to walk with her as she was explaining to them what they should know. Analyzing their options, the tabiran guilds didn’t have the monpower to face an army of those characteristics head on, with the number of soldiers growing, technology race and that presented another problem: it was kill or be killed; and from what Ivanna could see, with all the honesty, they would lose at least half of the guilds’ teams as some of them would try to knock them down; an option not really viable. And if wasn’t enough, Trench has a complement of magic users: one third of witches, the other third of sorcerers and the last one of wizards. Given the information about the witches the guilds had to deal with from the Shadow foxes; she suspected that some of them would be tempted by him and his promise of security, while others were abducted directly and being subjugated to serve his cause.

 

“But that’s crazy; no witch would try to do such a thing” Resin questioned. “I cannot say much for the others in the case of capture, but going willingly to kneel? I highly doubt it”

“For people like you, it’s true; but Trench is also a charismatic leader who always finds a way to convince them and you’re dealing with the standard Savitaran army’s composition; so he’s going to militarize the witches he removes, since that most of the people here despises them; and I still have to meet the witch that resisted him, his Arbok squad and magic breakers; and made it out alive” Ivanna explained.

“You’re saying he knows us that much?”

“I guess he studied your continental history too well to know what weaknesses you have in your society that he can explode; also that he can probably be aiming at any groups that still have resentments towards you over the course of your history, like witch clans, rebel groups, etc., and offer them the opportunity to erase you from the existence, returning all the pain they’ve felt”

“So now…” Percy tried to say.

“It’s a huge chest game and he is the expert player”

“… Is there a moment you had the advantage?”

“The attack of Namaran docks more than a year ago; a huge operation to cut his fleet from escaping and destroying any vessels that were standing by; that was the first time we had the upper hand, but it was a combination of the guild, the Namaran’s navy as well as other nations that wanted to destroy Trench, also that we were in equal footing in every aspect… from a fleet of 34 ships, only five escaped with their leader, unfortunately; he had some backup plans prepared in case of imminent defeat; the team we’ve rescued was part of that operation”

“But why they would capture only one?” Resin asked.

“It was not only them; five teams of five and six members were declared M.I.A after the battle; we tried to look them in the surrounding area, but they just simply vanished; I guess Trench had something to do with that”

“And how are they?”

“The leader is awoke, but too weak to move; Jaina is helping her to recover her strength, one of them has an arm missing as he and the rest are still unconscious, but healed up; I hope I see any kind of reactions in the day”

“Poor guys, when you said they were in bad shape, I didn’t expect that bad” Percy said.

“I’m more worried about their mental condition; if they were prisoners all this time, I can suspect how really bad they are”

Resin had too much in his mind. “*Sigh* I thought that with the victory in the expedition, we made a huge difference for all the people, saving them from Gilgamarsh and removing Don Kapon from Ywaru canyon, but now…”

“I don’t think you’re going to like it, but I received information that the place you mentioned was attacked at the exact moment of the invasion”

“No… who…”

“Three guys with their followers; they raided the prison where the lackeys of that criminal boss were retained and I have the feeling that they got their payback from the population”

“To the… population?”

“I still need confirmation, but based on what you did there against them; I don’t think they would take it lightly; and with a perfect opportunity to strike back… well, I guess you can imagine what will happen next”

“They’ve been waiting… they’ve planned it from the beginning” Percy deduced.

“Not sure of that, too; but the moment you rested in your laurels, believing your people were safe and protected, they launched the attacks that you couldn’t intercept; knowing that your numbers are still low to spare to other parts and you would be occupied stopping the attack here”

“How are going to do this? We have to investigate what is going on in the north, but the guys that attacked the canyon and this admiral… we cannot be in all the places at once”

“But I and my people can; you deal with whatever is cooking up there, I’ll worry about Trench and this terrorist group”

“How?” Resin asked.

“The pirates that stayed here, the team Void seekers that’s not part of your guilds; and other allies we have to find along the way, even if some of them are completely unlikely in normal circumstances; those are the forces we have to gather”

“Algaetide won’t allow you to move the ships freely; you will have to face embargos when you encounter the patrols”

“I have a counteroffer for that; either let us move freely or hope that they can build ships and hire water type warriors faster than they lose them”

“That’s not a bit…”

“Aggressive? Well, you will learn why my people gets fed up with bureaucrats, putting their own interests before an enemy that could wipe them out; let me take care of that problem with those sea rulers”

“You’re thinking you can win by rallying those unconventional groups you mentioned into your cause?” Percy asked.

“I’m not as arrogant as that, but the times sometimes change former enemies into allies and vice versa; they need something really strong to believe in”

“But you’re so…”

“Few? Trust me, this is our usual mess; we get used to be at disadvantage all the time; the key is to find what turns the tide in our favor; just like what happened 800 years ago to our forming guild”

“I hope you’re right”

 

In that moment, they heard some noises to their left. There was supposed to be no one outside, aside of the guards and the warriors carrying torches or using any other form of illumination in their patrols and moving in groups. With the people they had behind them, they moved slowly to the location where the sounds were coming, ordering to shut down the lights. Peeking from their hiding places, they saw a Mankey with a box full of things, looking to every direction to be sure that no one was around. Then, he took out what it was a mini voice stone, putting in shock Resin and Percy.

 

“This is white devil, come in” The Mankey spoke into the mini voice stone.

“We received you white devil, what’s your status?” A voice came from the stone.

“I took the last of the mini voice stones and information regardless of it, Gilgamarsh and other projects”

“Understood, head to the rendezvous point; we’ll pick you up and head back to the fleet”

“Copy that, white devil out”

 

Ivanna used her ribbons to get their attention and moved her head to follow him. Percy made gestures with his hands, indicating an ambush maneuver, which she nodded. Keeping their silence, they moved ahead of the Mankey, as they were trying to get as many of the thieves as they could. When they were reaching the outskirts of the city, they stopped and let the enemy advance while they were preparing to attack from all sides. After a couple of minutes, a Dragonite arrived with a Meowth, landing next to his side. Like they were all coordinated, they attacked at the same time with range moves and knocked the trio out. Once they were sure that none of them was moving, they approached to check what they had.

 

“I can’t believe this” Resin said in complete disbelief when he picked up one of the mini voice stones. “This is from the scholars, all of it… and they were using it… to keep it away from us?”

“He mentioned ‘fleet’, so that means they’re one of Trench’s spies” Ivanna deduced. “The only way to get this material, if I’m not mistaken, is that they had to be infiltrated inside your institutions, passing like one of you to get access”

“But… there’s no way that they could be able to do such a thing” Percy questioned, a bit afraid. “Their auras could be read by anyone…”

“The spy’s main job is to control his emotions and act as convincible as possible to not alert anyone of his true intentions; say, he could steal this and not harbor any evil thoughts”

“He said that… they were taking the rest of the voice stones and papers…”

“Trench already obtained what he wanted from you; now he was trying to deprive you from your stuff to get a clear advantage… how many things you have developed over the years?”

“Too many to count them”

“I need a manifest of your items to see what they’ve obtained; knowing him, he already saw military applications of your items and he will create his own versions, upgrading their existing equipment and listen carefully: for no reason, this will get outside to your teams and the general public”

“The repercussions…”  Percy was deducing.

“Exactly; keep it within the most important members, but only them”

“That includes your teams?”

“Yes, since they’ve to fight Trench as well, they need to know every detail to get ready; we’re done checking the city, now it’s time to root out the remaining spies before they could report anything else and we have to finish this before the morning”

 

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At their good miles to the south, following the western side of the continent in the same direction, ADAM with Night Slash were returning aboard of his Tentacruel, watching a trio of ships sinking in flames. “So much for the Algeen’s patrol fleet” She thought out loud, causing the Lurantis to laugh. After being tasked to call the other five ships that were standing by outside the range of Tabira, ready to intercept the enemy vessels passing through the area and by the orders of vice admiral Harkov, they encountered the small enemy fleet approaching with their water types in position. They waited until they were near point-blank range, using their order to stop them as an advantage, and before the Algeens knew it, Trench’s forces attacked like a lightning, giving no time to defend themselves.

When they joined the rest of the fleet, ADAM and Night Slash boarded the Spearhead, Trench’s flagship and reported to their squad leader, Minre. He mentioned to them that Algeen would respond if they stayed in the open, now that they’ve recovered from the surprise or so it would seemed. In any case, if they were looking for a fight, making them lose a great portion of their forces, two thirds of them, would be suffice to spread fear among them to send more of their people to their destruction.

 

“Let’s face the facts, the last war thy had was the Glennish war between Tabira and Glenmark and since then, they didn’t have any other major military conflicts in the last 15 years; even some of the old veterans are getting rusty by now” ADAM said with his arms crossed. “Hell, these guys have only fought witches, bandits and pirates; good warm ups, but not even enough”

“As the admiral said, never underestimate their capacity of... trying something unexpected” Minre warned. “It’s their only chance to beat their odds”

“Then we’ll make sure that they don’t have those chances if they’re thinking in coming to fight us” Meteor looked to each member of his squad. “For now, they’re worried of the witchcraft that pulled the bandits right to their homes and; if they don’t want to lose their entire city, they will not try to launch any expedition against us; unless they’re ready to assume heavy casualties”

“I don’t mind if they do that” Night slash smiled. “In that way, I can try to beat my record of most kills in one minute”

“And where is the admiral?” ADAM asked.

“In the research ship, hearing about the items we’ve got” Minre answered. “Plus, he’s finishing copying the Vaporeon’s research with my help, so the scientist we find doesn’t have to hear it in hours”

“Just imagine troops lying in wait below of their noses, ready to stab them and sink them”

As usual, the Kadabra appeared next to them with his teleportation powers. “Commander Minre, the admiral request your presence at once”

“Tell him I’ll be there” He nodded.

“Any assignments for us?” Night slash asked, looking to her blades.

“Yes; ADAM, take a couple of pirate ships and guard the right flank against any other algeen patrol fleets; Meteor, you do the same at the front with three ships; Night slash, take two flying squadrons and guard our rear and the left flank; make sure no one is following us”

 

After they headed to carry their duties, Minre headed to the research ship that was navigating next to the flagship. The research ship had the same armor as the other warships, but unlike them, it had one third of the elite troops, little Starmie and Staryu armament and the rest of the crew were rogue scientists, pledging his services for him. Also that it contained many of the materials and papers from other investigations that found an adaptation or completion with them. The only problem was the gathering of resources to make more, being tasked to the troops to find and bring it to their current position for a small scale production.

Once he crossed the deck, heading below and crossing four big cabins, he arrived where Trench was reading all the formulas and investigations from the tabirans Minre copied with the help of some of the scientists. In specific, he was interested in the invisible potion, the dud potion and the voice stone’s technology from the scholars; and the smoke bombs, the crimson kunai and the invasive seeds from the Tabira’s general store. All of that could be used to expand their options in their operations, not to mention, have the surprise factor in their favor when they use it.

 

“You wished to see me sir?” Minre crossed his arms behind his back as he was looking to his commanding officer.

“Of course, Arbok leader” Trench nodded. “We have a matter to discuss”

“What’s the situation?”

He showed him a map of the southern part of the continent. “Some of the men of your infiltration team reported that deep in a jungle, there’s a temple where it contains artifacts of war; ancient electrical machines developed to subjugate the enemy”

“Hmm, there was no information about any of that in their minds”

“I assigned a part of them to stay back a little longer to corroborate those rumors and now we have the confirmation”

“But there's no actual proof”

“Correct, we maybe find what it's left of them; but even if it is just scrap, they maybe be contain fragments of information we could use; even we could find evidence of ancient hidden military storage of similar technologies”

“It's worth investige it; and about the location of the temple”

“Yes” He pointed a place next to the Karuka jungle. “It’s where the tabirans made their stand against a powerful foe in other to save their land”

“Fever flats”

“Correct; since that incident, the people of that place thinks that now they can have the peace they were trying to find for so long, making all the previous sacrifices count and thanks to the assistance of the tabirans in the reconstruction of their homes”

“They wouldn’t expect a strike coming from the sea and the news about the attack to Tabira haven’t reached other cities yet”

“Yes; that’s why you and the Arbok squad have an important mission: take a group of the witches that manipulates fire and a strike force with you” He drew an imaginary line from their point of deployment to their destination. “Make your way to the temple, burn the whole Karuka jungle and Fever flats if you have to and they oppose resistance, take everything from the temple and make your way back to the other side of Ferfrond village; we’ll pick you there and then we proceed to the Scattered isles”

“They feared the toxins, now they will fear the fire and the ashes”

“And that’ll send a message to the guilds if they still want to defy us: they can save, but never protect” 

“I’ll make sure of it sir… permission to speak?”

“Granted”

“What we do with the pirates?”

“Once we establish positions, we’ll shape them into a formidable army; and that reminds me; if you encounter witches along the way and some 'volunteers', along with any resources of interest and even some of the witch's toxins left, you know what to do”

“And the fugitive?”

“I believe that he’s still in the area of Glory’s peak; he managed to elude us… quite admirable for someone who doesn’t have much muscle or courage”

“He must have had help to escape and with his knowledge, he can still be a threat”

“We’ll find out, sooner or later; go commander, do what you do best” The Staraptor saluted him.

 

He returned the military salute and headed outside to prepare the expedition to Fever flats, taking a small portion of the tabiran items for testing. ‘We’re close to the real performance’ he thought. ‘Then we’ll show the true way to order and peace to this chaotic land and then… those Savitaran nations will fall as well in line’

 

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At some hundreds of miles, in Ywaru canyon, a Samurott was leading his new forces with all the rewards of their raid. ‘This was easier than I thought’ he smirked. After learning by unconventional methods of the attack to the guilds’ main power in Tabira, he bided his time, making his small, but dangerous group getting stronger by looking for witches and going for the kill. By now, there were a dozen of witch bodies around that gave him some reputation to work with and rally some Pokémon to his cause. His Altaria partner found “other” ways to bring more people with them and before they knew it, they had half of the guilds’ member numbers, enough to attack villages at random.

When the day of the attack came, they headed to Ywaru canyon for their first objective: the liberation of Don Kapon’s lackeys to increase their monpower. After learning about the actions of the tabirans, he suspected that the bandits and assassins would be pissed off enough for being stripped from their dominant position and wanted revenge. And he was right. With the Altaria coaxing the guards, her group snuck in and raided the prison, killing all the guards and freeing as much criminals as possible. The only ones that didn’t join them were Oxnard, Bermuda and a few others that were still loyal to the old boss. The Samurott shrugged, didn’t caring of their decision and once everyone was armed and recovered, they launched another attack; this time, to the settlement.

It was a nightmare. The sheriffs Barley and Pinto didn’t have a chance to stop them, as they were easily beaten by their new leaders and the others were scattered, killing some of the people in an act of revenge, taking anything of value and breaking barrels and wells in order to returning them the problem of gathering fresh water; not as hard as it was before, but enough to see them suffer. While she was on the ground, Barley looked to the Samurott with anger.

 

“Just wait when t’ tabirans hear about this” She said. “Y’ will fall like Kapon”

The samurott only laughed and approached to her. “Maybe you don’t know, but right now, they’re been invaded by pirates and bandits, your saviors will meet their end”

“Y’re lying! They don’t…”

“Sorry to break your hopes, but no one will come to your rescue” The Beedrill smirked. “The invasion was planned the moment the tabiran expedition took off and the only thing they can save now is their own lives; we have plenty of time to bring havoc to this place before we leave”

Barley still didn’t want to believe it, but they talking with that honesty… she couldn’t accept it

“So you see, there is no such a thing as a better tomorrow; only the opportunity to attack in their weakest moment” The samurott finished and left her to faint.

 

When it was almost night time, the new forces of the Samurott regrouped and mobilized outside the canyon, heading to the zone between the Daunting dunes and Fever flats. Since they still had time before the tabirans could recover, they raided the villages they crossed, taking from them food, wagons and some construction materials as they were preparing to establish their own camp. But to the consternation of all, the Samurott ordered to place one half of their rewards in some of the acquired wagons to be sold later.

 

“What’s the point of selling all of this?” One of the assassins asked. “You’re planning to keep the money for yourself?”

“I apologize for your lack of vision; I hope I didn’t go too rough; let me explain: what’s the point to have all of this trash if they only thing they would do is to take space and deteriorate? Think of it as an investment; we need money to get some resources and contacts through the territory; money is the language of some people and if we’re clever, we can get better equipment to ‘sell’ our services” He said.

“Mercenaries?”

“No; guards, witch hunters, hitmen… we can take those services to expand our influence as we get a stable income, which it will be used to get us better stuff”

“And as we take those services, we can learn more things about our surroundings as we keep a low profile, I see”

“The mistake of your Don Kapon was to operate in the opening; that dragged the attention of those tabirans to him and finished his time as the ruler of the canyon; we can be smarter than that and work in the shadows, increasing our numbers and our strength until we’re ready to fight in the open, covering all the weaknesses of your predecessor”

“I heard that you call us Fox hounds”

“That’s because we have some foxes to hunt in the wild; when we have a sturdy presence, we can aim to bigger goals, maybe even overthrowing the tabiran’s weak regime for something more… reliable”

“I don’t think they have a ‘regime’, but I see what your point is”

“Good, for now on, you have the task of organize these warriors as we plan our next moves”

“I’ll see to it”

 

Once that out of the way, he reunited with his inner circle.

 

“Everything is moving smoothly” The Altaria informed.

“For now; we still have to wait if the tabirans will retaliate when they recover the capacity to launch more expeditions” The Beedrill commented.

“More distance and more time hidden, it will be harder for them to track us” The Samurott pointed. “Sapphire, any weapons in our arsenal?”

“Not much, a few swords and armors; villages are not very good places to find that kind of equipment” The Altaria answered. “We’ll have to sneak our way into the armories and buildings where they’re holding the good stuff”

“Hmm, any troublesome witches Hellspike?”

“Asides of being more talking and less action, no; also that they are easy to stab” The Beedril answered.

“And other witch hunter clans interfering?”

“No; those punks haven’t showed up yet; I guess they see now that we don’t want competition”

“After erasing the first four, probably; they never expect to fight a non-witch in their lives” Sapphire commented. “Rivan, we need to keep our objective clear”

“You know I remember as crystal; we’ll recover our position back in Getrad, crush the blasted Shadow foxes and their conspirers for bringing us down and then, we’ll be ready to retake the original domains of my blood line”

“Playing with the masses when you acquire the power wouldn’t be so difficult; when we convince them that Savitaran is protecting witches instead of hunting them, they’ll join us to destroy them; hell, we can even say the same with those tabirans” Hellspike was too optimist with his estimations.

“I’ll believe that when they actually do it; until then, this land needs an iron paw to keep some potential threats in order”

“If we train these guys until they make decent warriors, we’ll have better chances” Sapphire proposed. “We can also try to make some troublemakers join us, even a couple of witches if we press them enough”

“We can see that on the way; for now, let’s focus in establishing a camp strong enough to not have to deal with any surprises, but in a hidden location, so we don’t have to deal with the ‘lost travelers’”

“And what about the boy you brought with us from Cabqlue?”

“He’s carrying a special assignment I have stored for him; once he’s done, he’ll return to us”

“I hope your apprentice is in the level” Hellspike commented.

“Don’t worry, he will be”

 

After they discussion, they retook the lead of their forces and continued, looking for a safe location to establish their presence and to begin their operations.

A bit of background of the the guild my team comes from and situation at hand with the admiral's forces and the terrorist group that started gathering strenght. They started their operations in this land to have the power to fight back their homeland, even if they have to "push aside" some resistance.

Resin and Percy belongs to :icontalesoftabira:
Personal NPC's belongs to me
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