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

[Otebon Albrecht]

Althea cheered when the 82 cut a swath through the base and dove into the fray. Even though she spent most of her time in the shadows and behind the scope of a rifle, the advance of an armored division was a thing of beauty. And catching the colors of Luna Isles on the side of a few of the tanks only made her cheer harder.


Taking a moment to breath as the reinforcements bowled over the weakened front lines of the Lylatian forces, Althea brought her hand up to her comm.


"This is Capt. Voss. Captain Michael, are you still there? The 82nd have arrived and have reinforced all lines as far as I can see. What are your orders?"

[BusterBuizel]

"No further orders friend. Unless they try something big, which there's little chance. I don't think they'll be back for a while. And thanks for the Assist! I got my entire squad to pull out just in time and we're all okay. You ESFP? I saw your moves all the way from the base. If you're up for a challenge later we can fill you in on a classified mission. In the meantime I guess you can do some close protection duty. My dad, The President, is in town and we could help with keeping those assassins off him. Didn't know I was THAT Capt Micheal Rivers now did you?"

[Otebon Albrecht]

Althea pulled herself out of the AAV and reached down to help the Marine out as well. "Good job soldier" she whispered to the Marine as he left.


Jumping off the AAV and onto the ground, Althea breathed a sigh of relief. I'm glad I landed here as opposed to ordering the pilot to drop us off on the other ridge. I should have known that this Captain Rivers was the son of the President... Putting a hand to her ear, Althea responded.


"Yes Sir, I'm Captain Althea Voss of the ESFP. Glad to hear that you and your men are safe. And, if it isn't too forward sir, I'm always up for a challenge. I'm coming into the HQ, where can I meet you?"

[BusterBuizel]

"Medlab in block A4. Second hallway, take a left, follow the signs. You've seen my face on TV before, that handsome Glaceon with the dorky sister," Mikey joked. Tanya opened up her channel.

"Oh shut up bro! Don't make me tell her about the-"

"Alright! Alright! Geez, One time Tanya, One time! Don't worry about that, we've had our sibling rivalries since we were in the womb. By the way, you can call me Mikey. That's a privilege, I give to my friends. You're a brave soldier to be selected into the ESFP and you've earned my respect just by passing that."

"And I'm Tanya. Glad to meet you fellow Luna Islander. You from the North (Japan), East (SKorea), West (Taiwan), or South (Philippines)?"

(OOC: Check the Sign Up Thread for NPC Profiles)

[Otebon Albrecht]

Althea had to mute her set for just a second to stop her laughter from being broadcast across the channel. She entered into the HQ and, instead of going directly to the Med bay, headed to the armory instead. It makes no sense to walk around without able to defend the base at any moment. Once I get some ammo, I'll head up to the Med Bay.

"Roger Captain Mich - I mean Mikey" Althea kinda wince at the familiarity. It just seemed strange to talk to the son of the president that way. "I'm glad that you count me among those you name friends. And to respond to your question, I come from the Northern Isles."


Althea picked up her ammunition quickly and jogged into the Med bay just a few moments later. With the help of a nurse, she found her way to Micheal and Tanya. Opening the door and moving forward into the room, Althea made a short bow allowing her fox tails to spread out behind her a bit. "Hello... Mikey and Tanya. I hope you are not too grievously wounded Ms. Tanya. How are you feeling?"

[BusterBuizel]

"Little sore from the cramping, but otherwise I'm feeling great," the Vaporeon replied, "The one disadvantage to this mechanical augmentation is vulnerability to EMPs. The Lylatians use genetic augmentation in their Spec Ops and their soldiers can't breed because their genes are too twisted up. The thing about the nanobots; sure they may hurt like hell when you get EMP'd but after all this when we return to civvy life we can settle down and have a family. And hey, in the long run I bet most of those genetically superior children will join the ESFP too. All natural farm raised organic badasses ready for the fight."

"You gotta love the UPF," Mikey smiled as he helped his sister get back up.

"Guys..." Ghost came into the room, blackened with singed fur, "I blew up the suit..."

"Good job," Tanya glared at the Zorua.

"Man, this is gonna be the third week in a row I'll be washing toilets with my toothbrush."

"Actually, you saved us quite a bit Ghost. The suit was malfunctioning, and upon further inspection it was gonna blow on its own before you happened to jump in it," Mikey explained.

"...So you're telling me that I was driving a walking nuke?! Holy crap reality bitch slapped me hard today."

"Good thing you managed to activate the weaker self destruct before it did."

"No kidding..."

"PRESIDENT ON DECK!" Andrew yelled and saluted, his squad doing the same.

Escorted into the base with a squad of Civil Guard Agents, President Rivers surveyed the base intently as he made his way to the medical room.

"Keep your eyes and ears peeled for anything comrades," Andrew whispered into his mic, "This is still a hostile area."

The nurse in the medlab stood at attention as the President walked in.

[Otebon Albrecht]

Althea laughed quietly while Ghost spoke about his most interesting day and his run in with a very combustible piece of equipment. She could at least sympathize with the punishments within the military. Not to go too far into it, but there were some incidents when Althea had gone through explosives training that cost her instructor his eyebrows.

Upon hearing the call of VIP on Deck, Althea made a quick side-step so that she stood next to the wall as she snapped to attention. No kidding Andrew, she thought as she heard the whispered mention of this still being a battle field. There were probably still Marines out there dying while she was standing here.


She sneaked a peak at the President as she stood there at attention. Call it a childish inclination, but it used to be a game between her and her sister when they were children to try and sneak peaks without being noticed. Kimiko had always been better at it than she.

[BusterBuizel]

"At ease everyone, return to your duties," The President seemed a bit nonchalant today even though he knew that he was very much in danger, "You okay Tanya?"

"Just caught a blast of EMP, I'll be fine," she sat up as the residual soreness faded. She got up and hugged her father.

"Your mom called me here to check on you guys and see how you're doing. Plus I've got to survey the aquaculture facilities behind the lines to make sure we're getting enough fish on the tables. You know how bad the food crisis is back home, everyday some people don't get enough rations to survive. These are hard times for everyone, especially for me and your mother. As Vice President she has to sift through more paperwork, more forms, and more letters just to run the UPF. Believe me, both of our heads are spinning at all the time consuming issues that float around the Capitol."

"How are the quarantines of the Reaper Plague?" Mikey asked

"Bad. Another outer moon colony was hit even though the quarantine was in effect there. First our food production planets and now the outer systems. It seems like someone, or something other than the collective intelligence of the Plague is spreading these mutagenic viruses. The whole UPF is in paranoid lockdown. If anyone is seen coughing up bright yellow blood they get executed on the spot and their body cremated. No exceptions. No cure. At least people understand that much. No riots, no civil unrest, just suffering. I'm here to make sure to ease and relieve that suffering. If my people are unhappy then you bet your sweet sorry ass that I'll be pissed as a Gyrados on roid rage. Don't get on my bad side today. I'd like to just relax and chat with a few soldiers and civilians to get my mind off things."

[Otebon Albrecht]

Even though Althea knew the President was a bit of a laid back individual, she thanked her lucky stars that she had the foresight to go from full attention to relaxed attention with her hands folded behind her and her feet spread shoulder width apart. This followed the command of "at ease" while still remaining at attention.


Just from looking at the President's face, he looked tired. His was not an easy burden to bear, and Althea could see that it was wearing on him. She respecter her leader dearly and because of that wondered about his health.


Upon Captain Micheal's mention of the Reaper Plague, Althea stiffened. That was one subject that generally destroyed her good mood. She had lost a few friends to that disease. It was troubling that the disease continually seemed to jump quarantine, even across planets. As far as she knew (and she would be the first to admit that she knew little about immunology or virology), plagues like this don't jump from planet to planet and bypass the quarantines.


Her current theory was that someone was purposefully transmitting it. Call me paranoid, but...

"Captain Voss reporting Mr. President."

[BusterBuizel]

"Ah yes, Althea Voss. Sniper and designated markswoman floating around from unit to unit. It's good to see the EFSP my cousin set up in full affect. You know, these kids of mine always wanted to follow in their dad's footsteps. And my cousin, General Bradley, put them into his very own pet project. To be honest I thought the ESFP was gonna be a huge waste of money. But in reality you guys do things not even Helljumpers can do. And that is why I need you-say? Where's Zak? he needs to hear this. Oh hold on, let's meet in the briefing room in fifteen minutes. I need all of you ESFP to come to the meeting."

"Roger dad!"

"Arf!" Tanya barked in agreement.

"Cute," he smiled at his daughter's yip. Althea got a good look at the young appearance of the President. Although he was 42, he could almost pass as someone of his late 20s. Althea noticed that his wariness made him look much older than face value.

[Otebon Albrecht]

You know what, Althea thought to herself as she watched the President leave the room, I like him. He does his job well. That, and apparently everyone likes the Experimental troops. The President is giving me his personal opinion on the matter, the Presidents son was their biggest fan, and Tanya was ready to birth a whole litter of candidates. Oh well...

Althea waited until the door finally closed before relaxing fully and turning back to Michael and Tanya. She raised one eyebrow at Tanya and asked a question with a smile.


"Yip?"

[BusterBuizel]

"What about it?" she asked, "Always did that since I was a pup. I really look up to my dad you know?"

"Can you walk sis?"

"Yeah, gotta sit this next mission out man. My new nanobots won't be in for quite some time. Gonna head home and help mom with her stuff. Althea, you can take my place in the squad. Go on to the meeting."

[Otebon Albrecht]

"Alright," Althea said kindly, "as long as you are alright."


Althea couldn't really call her on "yipping" at her dad, she had done just as many silly things to her parents when she was little. For instance, right when she had learned that she had some ability with fire, she had accidentally set her father's suit on fire. Suffice it to say that he wasn't overly pleased with her performance.


"You stay safe Tanya," she said as she helped the Vaporeon to her feet and embraced her in a quick, sisterly hug. "Try to stay away from the line of fire."


She turned to Captain Michael. "Shall we Sir?"


She and Mikey walked to the briefing room. They were a bit earlier than the President's fifteen minute deadline, so that gave her an opportunity to ask a few questions of the Captain. Like for instance...


"What is the son of the President doing on the front lines of a battle," Althea asked as she took a seat in the briefing room. "Not that I think your combat ability is lacking, far from it. I just wouldn't think that such a VIP would be stationed anywhere near a battle."

[BusterBuizel]

"You obvious don't watch a lot of TV don't you?" Mikey flashed the ESFP insignia on his shoulder, "Been wanting to be a soldier since I fired my first Tundra Falcon. See this magnum? I've had it since I was seven. Me and my sister wanted to be soldiers just like our parents during the Federation Civil War. My mom, VP May, was a rebel sniper and my dad a tank commander. My sister is a sniper and I'm not just good with tanks, I'm good with anything. ARs, SMGs, DMRs, anything I can get my hands on will help. I was selected into the ESFP when I was 16. I was in ROTC in high school along with my sister. Originally I wanted to be a drop trooper like my friend Andrew over there. But then when 'uncle' decided to form the ESFP he hand picked me to be the first. Boot Camp was brutal to most, but me and my sister found it to be a cakewalk. It just felt natural to pick up a rifle, crawl through the mud, and march for hours. I felt at home. Ghost and Zak, well, Ghost is actually immune to the Reaper Plague and Zak is a Hybrid Pokemorph, a reproductive experiment. Half Absol, half Char. Ghost is crafty, cunning, and devious. He struggled with the training, but in the end his brains made him come out on top. Zak was far more superior to anyone who applied in the ESFP. He's as faster and more evasive than an Absol and stronger than a Charmeleon. Sorry, whenever I talk about myself I talk about my friends too. I'm not just in the service to earn my Citizenship, I'm in it because it's a career choice I love."

"You know Federation policy: You wanna vote; you gotta serve. The whole Civilian/Citizen system makes sure the voters care about the way the UPF runs. You know how good of a job Mikey's dad does? He has kept in power for 18 years and nobody gives a complaint about it," Ghost explained a bit more, "His commitment to the nation is his obsession. He wants to make the people happy, he wants to keep this great socialist democracy great. Everyone loves the guy. You simply can't hate him. Well, unless you're Lylatian or some former Rising Tide. Then everyone hates him. Xenophobic assholes."

[Otebon Albrecht]

Althea listened quietly as Mikey spoke of his previous life. And it was true, she had never been much of a tv-watcher. Instead, (even though she had singed a few of the pages of some of her favorites) she had always been a bit of a bibliophile. With a warm feeling, Althea thought back to her small library full of historic classics, texts, and (yes, it was silly but) poetry.


Althea shifted a bit in her seat as she checked the small waterproof notebook that she had tucked into one of the pockets of her suit by feel. It was nearly full with her small attempts at true literary art, but none of them were very good in her opinion...


As Micheal continued to speak, Althea remembered the training. At first, she had hated the mud and grime that seemed to have been mated to the basic training course. But that had all gone away once she had picked up the marksmen rifles. Then she was willing to slog over miles of the thickest slop that the sergeants could throw at her for just the chance at a rifle. That was also before the survival and Close Quarters Combat training (both of which she had surprisingly excelled at due to her pyroclastic abilities).


Although she tried to hide it, she was a bit suprised to find that Ghost was immune to the plague. As far as she knew, you were either immune to a disease due to some genetic mutation (which meant that you basically won the steepest lottery in existence) or you had survived an encounter with the disease, which seemed a lot harder to do. When she heard that Zak was a hybrid experiment, Althea knew that her surprise showed on her face. He would be formidable on the field if given the right direction.


Luckily, Althea thought to herself happily. The ESFP get some of the best leadership available. I guess that's what you get when you have elite units leading the way into battle...

"I can't agree with you more," Althea said once Ghost had finished talking. "I voted for your father Mikey every chance I got. I think he's among the best things to happen to us as a culture, you know next to sliced bread and the invention of plasma shielding. I'm just glad that I was able to meet his son and name him among one of my friends, as fast as this has all happened." Althea looked down to the small clock on her wrist. "I wonder where the President is?"