Hybrid Ascension: Ghosts of Lylat (Pokemon/StarFox Crossover RP #2)

[Otebon Albrecht]

Fantastic, Althea thought as David described the terrain of his own mind. She made sure that the thought didn't pass through the link to David and the President. My mind is linked to a pervert... Fantastic...

Ghost approached her and mentioned that he enjoyed being locked in a room with her; a thought that didn't bother her one bit. She was bothered by the thought that she was trapped in a room with Ghost and a spy that would probably kill them both given half a chance. She prepared to link Ghost's mind with her own, but then was thrown to the ground.


I should have been expecting that. Should have extended the field first, then tried to make a communication array... Kimiko would have known that.

Rolling out from under Ghost, she closed her mind as she rapidly did two things. The first was that she threw her mind through the workshop to locate their Spy friend. This was simple enough as she didn't care much about how delicate her touch was, in fact much the opposite. If the Spy was hit by her mental shockwave, the Spy's mind would be disrupted, possibly leading to unconsciousness.


The second was to lay a mental link on Ghost so that she could talk with him.

[BusterBuizel]

Immediately the lights went out in the workshop. Ghost and Althea were left guessing at the location of the spy. Ghost allowed his thoughts to link.


-Great, you got a fix on him Althea? I could turn on my scouter's IRNV but the light would give away our position. Know any good psychic type attacks to incapacitate the guy?-

[Otebon Albrecht]

Ghost... Althea thought with a mental sigh. I'm a Ninetails not a Mew. My little sister was much better than I at this. We'll be lucky if I can hold this traitor still for more than a few minutes.

Althea quickly got to her feet and closed her eyes, letting her mind "see" for her. This was one thing that she'd excelled in over her little sister. It was probably because she didn't rely completely on her mental input. Using the sound of her own breathing, a hand running softly over the terrain around her, and a quick mind, she could almost picture he world around her. It was almost like sonar, except the picture was tempered by psychic "vibrations" that made somethings stand out in sharp relief to her and other things become gray and almost invisible.


For example, Ghost was plainly visible to her. His thoughts were like a beacon she could see even if she closed her eyes...


Ghost. You need to stay close to me and stay quiet. We're going to sweep the room. Keep your ears sharp.

Spending a second to sweep the area immediately around her, she sent her consciousness out to try and find the Lylation Captain Olaris. At the very least, he should be notified...

[tangletail]

The captain remained silent on his stroll down the steel corridors of the ship remaining in deep thought. His own thoughts began rearranging themselves in a fight over priorities as he let out a soft sight. When the corridor ended and opened up to two more hallways, the fox made a left  to head back to where he believed the group might be.

 
“Just great,” the fox thought to himself with his eyes narrowing in distaste at his own luck, “someone proposes to you, then goes under an atmospheric arrest. Furthermore, what else is terrible is that it was the same one you thought you we-,” his thoughts ended there as he felt an intrusion poke through his own mental state of mind.

 
“Arrrgh,” the fox exclaimed in surprise as his own vision became distorted for a brief moment. The fox had his mind intruded before from Kyrstal, but he hadn't had it happened enough to grow accustomed to it nor did he actually accept any form of personal intrusion.

 
“Who's in my head now?!

[BusterBuizel]

-Gotcha Althea. Staying close- Ghost tried to keep his left paw onto her shoulder. The room was pitch black and what might be worrying is the fact that the spy might have a night vision visor.


Meanwhile Althea connected her mind to that of Olaris, informing him of the situation.

[Otebon Albrecht]

"Ghost," Althea whispered into his mind. "Guard me for just a moment. I have to focus on something real quick."


Feeling Olaris' mind respond to her touch, she increased the pressure on his mind a microscopic amount. It was always difficult to do this for her as she wasn't very adept at controlling her power. It was like trying to press into a soap bubble without breaking it, because if that bubble popped, Althea would break into Olaris' mind and she didn't want to do that.


"Olaris," she sent trying to be as quick as possible. "Guard yourself, there is a spy on board. Ghost and I are in pursuit, but be ready."


Keeping the connection, but bringing her mind back to herself, Althea allowed waves of her thoughts roll out from her. She was searching for the sympathetic response that another, living mind would have when her thoughts made contact with it. She immediately felt Ghost's mind, and forced herself to ignore it. As much as she desperately wanted to search the avenues of his thoughts and peruse his desires she couldn't right now. Oh... to step into that... Althea panicked for the space of a breath.


With her mind spread out like that, there was a possibility that Ghost may have noticed her thoughts. Great Althea. Now he knows you're infatuated with him.

Returning to the task at hand, Althea focused outwards. It didn't take long before she found the vibrations of another mind. It was male, it was calm, and it was 47.6 meters to her right. He had no shielding for his mind, and even at this distance and with such a soft touch, Althea could pick up basic emotions.


He's... enjoying this? It's a... hunt?

[BusterBuizel]

Ghost keep watch as Althea contacted Olaris. In his mind he was not only focused at eliminating the spy but also protecting Althea. He thought about how life would be like if they got together. He even thought for a moment what it would be like to raise a few Vulpix kits with her as his wife. His mind trailed off for only a split second as he regained focus on the task at hand, only to be broken by the thoughts of Althea revealing her true emotions to him. There was a dripping faucet in the background.


"Althea... You-" Ghost whispered and was cut off by a gunshot. Althea felt a thud by her feet as Ghost collapsed to the floor, shot in the lung by the spy. She bent down and cradled him in the darkness.


Gasping for air Ghost was hyperventilating. Althea dragged him into a shipping container and closed it shut, keeping the tactical light on her vest from being visible to the outside. She could see the gapping hole in Ghost's ribcage, the bottom portion of his right lung had been torn and blood was seeping out onto her palms. He was coughing up blood and was trying his best not to go into shock.

[Blackfang1002]

Tohaku snapped out of his daze after hearing a gunshot. He jumped from the bed, ripping the plugs and wires off his chest and arms. He stumbled out of the ward, grabbing his pistol from the counter. Several doctors tried to halt him but to no results. His body ached as he slammed into the research area. He unsheathed his pistol as he shoved the door open to the room he heard the disturbance. He scanned the dark room. -three people........whos the third?- he questioned silently. He aimed to the corner of the room and fired three times. One hit the wall and the other two were met with a thud against warm flesh fall owed by a heavy thump. He flicked on the lights, the spies body appearing. "Hello? Where are you guys?" His eyes started to blur as he  scanned the room before seeing the shipping container. "Shit. Ghost!"  he moved toward the injured soldier but fell to his knees. "Hang on......I'm.......I'm coming......" he said crawling to ghost. His body fell short of his friend. "Althea.......get the med.......med powder from.......my wrist band.....Stop his.......bleed....." he passed out before he could finish, the pain too great to hold consciousness.

[Otebon Albrecht]

"Ghost..." Althea whispered. "Stay with me Ghost..."


Althea futilely tried to apply pressure on Ghost's wound, but the frothy, pink blood showed how ridiculous an idea was that she could assist here. The thought that she could cauterize the wound was quickly dispelled as she knew that a charred lung was not in Ghost's best interest right now.

She quickly followed the Toxic Foxes words and quickly applied the powder. But then the Fox fainted and she didn't know what to do.

"MEDIVAC!" Althea yelled both mentally and verbally. "DAVID, YOU BETTER GET A MEDIC IN HERE NOW!"


Althea stood quickly and flew threw the doors, almost literally. To say that she was upset would have been a gross understatement. She was fury incarnate now and it was reflected in both the waves of psychic energy that rolled from her body, creating a shield for herself and searching for the Spy, and the glow emanating from her body as the rage threatened to be released as flame.


With a quick flick of her mind, she located the Spy. He had frozen behind some crates, probably to confirm the kill, and was now paralyzed by Althea's display. Althea quickly turned her slight brush into an iron fist around the Spy's mind.


You are mine now. How dare you harm Ghost.

Not quite thinking rationally, Althea returned to one of her Psychic Warfare excersizes. Envisioning that her mind was a planet in space and the Spy's the only other object in this Plane, Althea created a ball of pure Pain and threw it at the Spy. This all happened along the mental connection between Althea and the Spy, but the response was physical: The howls of the Spy were music to her ears.


Tightening her grip on the Spy's mind, she stopped all communication between the Spy and his body. He went limp as a doll and collapsed, no longer even able to scream.


Spy captured Mr. President... Better come quick.

[BusterBuizel]

Tanya materialized from the puddle that had formed from the dripping faucet.


"Shit! I had it handled Tohaku! Althea, don't use the powder! OH crap!," Tanya rushed up to them and held her paw on Ghost's chest, too late to stop Althea from applying the medicine. She examined the powder and realized what Althea had done, "Althea! You just poisoned him! His body's not gonna accept the Anthro DNA of the regen powder Tohaku gave you! Pokemorphs and Anthros are different species and require different regenerative meds!"


A nurse came into the room and rushed the dying fox to the operating room, placing him in a stasis ball to halt anything else that could go wrong. Ghost dematerialized into a red beam of energy and was absorbed into the capsule like machine. His stasis ball was placed on a diagnosis machine.


"Right lung's been blown apart, multiple ribs broken, massive blood loss, and blood poisoning. If we didn't put him in the ball he'd be dead from shock," the Audino nurse explained, "I'm not sure he'll make it. But as long as he's in stasis he'll be alive. The bodily damage we can fix, but we might need to do something drastic or else his immune system will overreact to the artificial Anthro stem cells. There's no way he could recover quickly, if he even recovers at all."


"Oh no..." Tanya gasped as she cupped her forehead and cried deeply. Mikey burst into the room with Zak as well.


"Is Ghost Okay?!"


Tanya only looked at her brother and friend with a look that petrified them both.


"NO!" Mikey pounded his fist into the side of the room, denting the armored hull, "Dammit! He's not dead! Please Arceus! He's not dead!"


Zak only stood paralyzed and speechless. He slid to the floor from leaning on the wall. All he could do was stare blankly with tears forming in his eyes. Tanya snapped out of her daze and slapped her brother in the face.


"Stop! He's not dead! Not yet! Ghost lived through the Ishimura and he sure as hell will live through this! Snap out of it guys!" she grabbed a respirator for Zak and her brother. She fixed it to their snouts and told them to breath easy, quickly recovering from their panic attacks, "Pull together guys... We're a team. Stay strong for Ghost. Althea come here. Group hug and best wishes."

[Blackfang1002]

Tohaku gasped loudly and went silent, his body limp and cold. His breathing stopped silently. Tohaku's body had given out to the illness, his strength given to stopping the spy and attempting to save ghost. He had stolen poke morph stem powder from the ward just in case. Something had spoken to him in those moments, what we may never know. Tohaku's lifeless body lay quiet during the mourning for the young poke morph.

[tangletail]

With his scouter rematerialized over his eye and activated into a life signature scanner, the captain had nearly tripped over the body of his lover when he ran into the room with his rifle drawn. However, instead of completely trampling the body he had managed to spot it at the last second and jump over him to avoid harming the Toxic fox and nearly crashing into Althea. “Holy... how the heck did you...” the fox trailed off as he noticed the body was practically motionless now. With a growing panic emerging in his gut, the fox quickly tapped his com link and called over a nurse to rush him into the operating room.

 
After that has been done, the fox re-raised his rifle and proceeded forward keeping his eyes on the scouter. Eventually, he found the invisible spy that Althela had mentioned, his body was outlined and highlighted in a digital sepia over the single lenses of the scouter clearly labeling him as a valid entity over the surrounding. Olaris raised the pulse rifle to a fatal target on the spy's body, having no quelms of killing him if he has to for the amount of trouble caused. “I take it you got him,” the fox asked as he slowly moved around the crates to get a better shot.

[Otebon Albrecht]

Althea, still greatly upset but now beginning to feel the toll of her mental exertions, could still feel everyone in the room. Most notably and clearly the spy in front of her (still completely conscious and desperately attempting to recoil from the "ball of Pain" she held within his mind) and the fading light of Tohaku's mind. With everything going on around her, Althea didn't know what to do first...


Do your job, a voice called from her past. When your mind becomes clouded, fall within your training and do what needs to be done. When everything falls apart, control the situation, cut your losses, and rule your world. Save your men, do your job, and deal with the consequences later.

Yes... Father...

Althea spun and pointed directly at the fallen form of Tohaku. "Corpsman," she yelled at the Audino Nurse. She wasn't sure what title was appropriate, but now wasn't the time to mince words. "He needs help. NOW! His breathing has stopped and he doesn't have a lot of time."


She turned to Mikey. "Snap the Hell out of it," she said in a voice most assuredly not befitting for a Captain to be using with the son of a President. "Care for the living now and mourn for the dead when you can. Right now I need you to take the lead and do your job as a CO, not break your knuckles on a wall because a soldier has been injured. The same goes for you Tanya," Althea added. "Now is not the time to break down and 'group hug'. Ghost needs to be rushed to the Med bay, he doesn't need 'best wishes'. We have two casualties that must be cared for and a captive to interrogate."


Althea was suddenly struck by a wave of exhaustion. The effort of holding so many mental links (her mind was still connected to the Spy, David, Ghost, Olaris, the President, Mikey, Tanya, and Tohaku) compounded by the force necessary to stop the nervous signals of the spy from leaving the brain had finally caught up with her. Her eyelids fluttered and she stumbled as the world spun for a brief moment.


She quickly severed all her mental links save two, the necessary one to the spy and the one to Ghost (she refused to let that one go until she felt his heart stop beating). Putting her hand out to steady her body on a nearby storage container, she kept talking.


"I will need some time before I delve the mind of the spy. With your permission, I'd like to release my hold on him, but only after he is stripped of his cloaking gear and armament and bound. After that, I ask you leave to rest." Althea breathed deeply, settling herself for one last thing. Summoning her will one last time, she pushed herself straight and went to Full Attention and Parade Salute.


"I apologize for speaking thusly to a Commanding Officer. I humbly submit myself to whatever punishment you deem necessary for my behavior."


The only thing that gave her strength was the mental link to Ghost. She poured every thought of warmth and strength into it that she could muster.


Keep strong Ghost. Stay with me. Don't you dare die on me.

[tangletail]

“Oh relax, I am no longer an Officer. By this point of time I have probably been deemed a traitor, and have a death sentence on my head,” the fox sighed in a very sarcastic manner, but it was possibly more than likely the truth as he drew closer to the Spy with his guns till raised.

 
When the fox was close enough, he quickly grappled the man and slung him to the ground onto his stomach, then pressed his knee in his back as he started to handcuff him. After his hands, then came the spy's feet which were then pig tied with his hands to prevent any further movement. Clearly the fox didn't feel like dealing with the spy as much as anyone else.

 
Now with the spy completely immobile, his cloaking gear was immediately cut off of his body followed by a quick and thorough search, in which the fox recovered pieces of a very familiar rifle. “Is this... Uhm... Althea why are there pieces for a Demon Rifle aboard the ship?”
(hastily typed... sorry)

[BusterBuizel]

Tanya glared at Althea and walked over to her. She grabbed her by the collar and pinned her to the wall, punching her face in the process. Tanya whispered into her ear.


"I can't believe you! Look around you! I'm trying to calm everyone down and here you are disrespecting all of us with your insolent tone! I have full faith in our medical officers and Arceus above to take care of this okay! They've got it covered."


Tanya threw her to the ground and turned away. Mikey and Zak pulled themselves together.


"Althea... This was a non-combat situation. If we were out in the field you wouldn't see us freak out like this. We didn't expect this. Have a heart and show some compassion you dumb bitch... Address me as your superior now," Mikey got up and crossed his arms.


"Wow, happy **censor** birthday..." Zak commented harshly, "Sorry guys."


"It's okay Zak," Mikey sighed.


The President only shook his head in disappointment and gave Althea a hand signal to cease, "I understand you were taught to follow conduct." He lead her out of the room, "But what you have to understand is that there is a time and place for emotion. Frostbite was grouping together to stay strong, yet you kind of sent a message that said; '**censor** you guys you're all just pussies.' Sorry to be blunt, but I'm just being honest. This wasn't a battlefield Althea. Things were handled and you didn't need to act in the way you did. What I'm trying to say is this: the group was bonding together and you refused to be part of it. They just wanted you to be a friend, and in their eyes you failed them. I'm sorry for what happened, but I'm not sorry for your actions. Correct what you need to do."


He walked away back to his quarters.


Meanwhile David turned to Olaris and collected the parts, "May I take these off your hands? Thank you kind sir!" David gently placed them back on his workbench and sorted through the parts, "As to the origin of this peculiar rifle: we captured this when the LRM allied itself with the Federation. I've been taking a look at this for some time and I wish to unlock the secrets of this weapon so that I may reverse engineer it for Federation use. Plus, it's a solid holographic rifle, I've only heard about these types of weapons in video games. I've never seen or tried to design my own, namely because I don't know how to solidify a laser or light beam."