Interlude

[Niko_Linni]

Alright, as I said I wanted to do a rewrite of that story, Passion, that I posted here a few weeks ago. Well, no chapters or anything is done yet...but I wanted to give people a "preview" of what kinds of things this new reboot would have in it. First of all, it's a crossover, not only pokemon with advance wars, but more than likely a whole bunch of other series that have places, characters or events that are at least referenced to by name. Simply put, you'll never know who you'll run into next. But I'm going to try to make these cross-overs make sense and fit into the story line.

So, as this is a preview please understand that not *everything* will be explained or known. This is purely to let people speculate on what certain things are and what not. But if you really want something cleared up, feel free to post asking about it and I'll try to clear it up without spoiling too much of the plot. But some basic info you should know is Bass the fox has been transported to this new world where he met the lovely Gardeviour, Rain. At first he felt a slight attraction to her, and before long, he fell in love with her. But he has yet to tell her! He's waiting for the right moment to let her know. While that is going on, some sort of dark evil is creeping in from the shadows, and Bass has gone to find "Plonkis", a yellow fox who is infamous for knowing plenty of things but being off his rocker. Bass inquires about the name "One-Point-O", and that's where this little "Interlude" starts.

Also, Please to all who actually read what I've written, leave comments please! I want to know how this sounds, if it looks interesting, what I need to work on and so on! I really do encourage commentating just so I know how good or bad I am doing! Thanks!
Finally, here is the small preview of the story. This scene WILL actually be in the story at some point.



The yellow male fox walked across the room, calmly but slowly. He seemed rather calm in his mid twenties, although that blue and red tattered harlequin clothes that vaguely resembled a coat seemed out of place and his red eyes seemed to suggest insanity to a rather calm degree. The fox's feet were wrapped in some sort of thick but warm looking cloth also in a harlequin pattern. On first sight one might think the fox looked a little strange, but Bass was finding that he was...well he was strange but he didn't seem to have completely lost grips with reality.

“So anyways, where were we?” Questioned the fox.

“You were telling me about the battle droid or whatever that thing was.” Reminded Bass. The brown fox was young, only in his late teen years. He was wearing a yellow vest with blue jeans and orange shoes that complimented his somewhat cloudy orange eyes. He hadn't noticed that the cloudiness in his eyes were slowly going away until Arven mentioned it to him earlier that day.

“Oh yes, good ol' one-point-o.” The fox walked over to a dusty bookcase in the abandoned office that the two were standing in. “One-point-o wasn't just some droid though...he was a tough, strategic fellow who could access the Great Powers...and almost even use the Cosmic Powers.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Time out!” Interrupted Bass as he waved his arms. “I thought the Powers could only be used by organic creatures?!”
The fox put put a finger to his mouth, and then replied, “Well, I suppose so, except in that case of that one droid...Rose, Raise...Rise, whatever his name was...but in fact one-point-o was actually semi-organic. The Doctor simply used a volunteer alien to turn into one-point-o.”

“How good was one-point-o?”

“Well, for starters he was a military genius; Dark Cosmics has had some great minds in the past...but one-point-o did even better. He even gave some of IDS' seasoned generals a run for their money. They even ran him through the TTK and DCH scenarios to see how well he could command a unit and---”

“TTK and DCH scenarios?” Interrupted Bass, “What the heck are those?”

“Oh, well...the TTK is short for...well I can't really remember but it's something to do with monsters and some park...but the DCH is short for Doctor Curien House.”

“I think Rolto mentioned him...wasn't he the crazed doctor who was researching something and he created zombies?”

The fox nodded. “Mhmm...and the DCH scenario is basically a simulation where the commander takes a unit of 5 soldiers in with him to complete a search and destroy objective. All's the commander is told is that they need to go into the house and destroy an enemy combatant. It's to test how well they would handle under unexpected situations, namely in this case dealing with the undead and other monsters. One-point-o was able to complete both situations with maximum efficiency.”

“Sounds like he was a good commander.”

“Yep, but that was until his territories that he had previously taken over were invaded by another faction. It was something to do with the color red, I think. But yeah, he got kicked to the curve in that battle and before he could get to the next campaign he was 'shut down' and placed in stasis indefinitely”

“Do you know where he is by any chance?”

The fox shrugged. “Who knows, Bass, who knows...he could be in this building, beneath Sunstone City, or even in an enemy base somewhere. Where one-point-o disappeared to after his loss no one knows.”

“So they just made him disappear?”

The fox nodded. “Pretty much.”

“Now, I have a question...what about the new commander?”

“Commander of what?”

“Y'know...the commander of those black soldiers?”

“Ohhhh....those guys...well, I forgot his name too...but I think one of his code names was two-point-o...”
Bass raised an eyebrow. “Two point o eh? Real creative.”

“Hey, they made him two-point-o and not one-point-five for a reason. He's more powerful, more of an adept commander, and they even say he can pull meteors from space because of his power.”

“Seems like a tough opponent. But if one-point-o was defeated, then this guy can be too.” Suddenly Bass thought of something. He never asked the fox what his name was.

“Plonkis, that's my name.” Replied the fox after Bass asked him. “I used to be part of Valcrow's little tea-party group but they said I'd gotten too 'unstable' and thus they removed me from the group. Oh well, their loss.”

“Yeah.” Agreed Bass with a slight smirk. He was able to understand that “tea-party group” was meant to make fun of Valcrow's little group of villains he kept together. “You don't seem too 'unstable' to me.”

“Okay then...” Said Plonkis with a stretch. “Unless you wanna talk more, I'd say we're done.”

“Why don't you come along with me?” Asked Bass. Plonkis returned a puzzled look. Bass frowned. “What's wrong?”

“I'll painta target on my back if I go out there laddie.” Answered the fox with a nod. “Yes, they did kick me out of their tea-group, but if they find me they'll try to terminate me for sure.”

“Well why stay here then?”

“Cause it's safe!”

“But it's only a matter of time before---”

At that exact moment, an explosion was heard from the other side of the office door, and it fell down revealing several soldiers with readied weapons. These soldiers were different, however, as they seemed to be wearing some sort of black space suit with an attached glass helmet that completely concealed their heads and faces. They began to take shots at Bass and Plonkis, who both dived behind the office desk.

“See! I told you this would happen!” Shouted Bass.

“You never said this would happen!” Replied Plonkis in an equally loud shout.

“Well I didn't...but I was going to anyway!”

“We're getting nowhere with this...” Plonkis thrust his hand towards a nearby window, causing it to shatter. He seemed to use too much force though as it made a hole in the wall.

“What are you doing?!” Exclaimed Bass.

“Making an escape!” He grabbed Bass' arm. “Follow me!”

“Are you mad!? We're several stories up!”

Plonkis sighed and grabbed Bass round the waist with one arm and hoisted him up. He seemed pretty strong for a slim fox. Bass started kicking and screaming, shouting all sorts of insults that related to Plonkis' lunacy. Plonkis was able to maneuver to the window without getting shot, and when he reached the hole in the wall he threw Bass out of it and promptly dived out of the window too, leaving the black soldiers absolutely puzzled as to why they would throw themselves out a window.

“Ahhhh! I'm gonna die!” Screamed Bass as he was free falling towards the ground. Plonkis, on the other hand, was a lot more calm, and had his arms spread out as if he were sky diving. He soon reached Bass. “Grab my waist, make it snappy!” The fox complied, and shut his eyes and prepared for the worst. Plonkis pointed both his hands towards the ground and cupped them as if he were holding a sphere in each hand, and soon green energy appeared in his palms. They began to slow down on their descent to the ground, and when they were only two stories away from the concrete Plonkis used this energy to stand himself and Bass up. At this point they both simply floated down to the ground. Bass was still holding onto Plonkis' waist.

“Umm...Bass...you can let go now.”
The fox opened his eyes, and looked around, and let go of Plonkis' waist and breathed a huge sigh of relief. “I don't get it...how did you...?”

Plonkis raised up his hands and made them glow green energy again. “Telekinesis!”

“Ohhhhhh...so of course you wouldn't throw us out a window without first planning that out!”

“Actually...I decided to use the powers after I threw you out the window.”

“Why do I always wind up meeting the odd balls?” Bass said while shaking his head.

“Enough of this wondering about balls! You have a woman to go to, remember?”

“Oh yes, Rain! But...she's not my woman...”
“She's not your woman yet.” Said Plonkis with a grin. “How'd you end up falling for a gardeviour anyways?”

“Umm...it's kina a long story...but I think that can wait for later!” Bass pointed to the building's main door, which the black soldiers had just knocked down.

“Wow, I hope whoever owns this building has insurance for 'Black soldiers knocking down doors'...”

Bass gave Plonkis a serious look, to which the fox responded, “What? You never know with warranties and insurance; some companies are really picky about it!”

“Uhh! They're getting ready to fire at us!”

Plonkis sighed. “Must you be so dramatic? I'll take care of this.” Using his telekinesis Plonkis ripped a nearby phone booth out of the ground and threw it at the main door where the solders were, knocking all of them down and hopefully out.

“You need to get back to your girlie?” Plonkis asked Bass.

“Well yeah...as fast as possible...” The fox looked at Plonkis for a couple of seconds. “You're not gonna do some kinda crazy teleport move are you?”

“No, no no! I don't even know how to do something like that! I was just asking...y'know, it's good to know peoples' agendas so you can plan....also, those black soldiers seemed to be after something in particular...”

Bass thought for a couple of seconds, and then it hit him. “Y-you mean me?! Why would they want me?!”

Plonkis shrugged. “Beats the heck outta me, but all I know is that they were all gunning for you. They seemed to be almost unconcerned with me 'til I blew the hole in the wall.”

“Okay, so they're after me. What's that got to do with Rain? They probably don't even know the connection between us.”

“Actually...they might. It all depends on how good they are on gathering intel. I mean...you, Rain, that aqua-blue hedgehog and that trainer have all been in the city together. And the way you act towards Rain...not hard to tell you have feelings for her.”

Now there was a sense of urgency within Bass, like a base that was lit up and on full alert with its soldiers running around everywhere in a wild flurry of panic. “Th-that means they'll be heading for Rain! We gotta do something! We gotta get there fast!”

“To the bat cave!” Shouted Plonkis. “To Emerald Forest we go!”

Emerald Forest, named so because the leaves of the trees were green like emeralds and even shined like them when wet, was actually a break from the traditional “dark forbidding forest” that seemed to be common place in Veza. It seemed bright, the paths were easily to follow and it just seemed all around more friendly than the commonplace forest in Veza. But ask any well-experienced traveler who's been through Emerald Forest plenty of times and they will tell anyone that these forests' inviting atmosphere is perhaps the most dangerous aspect of it...the inviting atmosphere lowers one's defense and thus makes them more vulnerable to attack.
That is, if there was anything in the forests to attack people to start with.

“Hopefully those black soldiers don't have any tanks or cars or any form of transport...”

“If they did...” Began Plonkis, “...IDS would probably stop them and inquire the heck outta them, slowing em down by a large amount. If it gets to hairy with those soldiers...well that aqua blue hedgie--”

“His name's Kaden.” Interrupted Bass.

“Right, Kaden. Anyways...he has his odd little connections with that Puppet Show...those supernatural nutcases ought to be able to help us out.”

Bass chuckled. While it was true that The Last Apostle Puppet Show was indeed supernatural and out there...well it seemed to make a lot more sense and defiantly seem more sane than Plonkis was.

“I suppose he does have those connections to Puppet Show...” Thought Bass aloud. “Besides, I think their powers and magic would subdue any type of small militia.”

Before long Bass heard some sort of soft rustling. At first, Bass just put it out of his mind and just concluded that it was only Plonkis playing tricks with his telekinesis but when the rustles became more frequent and louder the fox began to think it might not be his strange friend. Regardless, Bass decided to see if it really was Plonkis, just to be sure.

“Plonkis, stop it.”

“Stop what?” The fox responded with a puzzled look. “I'm not doing anything!”

“Then what's all that rustling?”

Plonkis shrugged. “The wind?”

Suddenly there was a strong rush of wind and force, like a powerful hurricane. Bass and Plonkis were forced to protect their faces with their arms because of how powerful this sudden blast of wind was. When it settled and the two foxes lowered their arms they saw a figure draped in a dark midnight blue cloak. Its left arm seemed to be within the cloak, while its right was grasping a scythe that seemed to glimmer as if moonlight was shining on it. The blade was lavender with a slight hint of silver, while the rest of the blade was a deep violet color. Something about the scythe told Bass that this was something more than just some would-be Grim Reaper.

“W-who are you?” Asked the fox, his tone giving away the fact that he was somewhat scared.

“The only thing you need to know about me is that I need both of you to come with me...” The figure answered back in a male voice that seemed to drift off like waves at a beach.

“Why? What do we need to come with you for, Soultaker?”

Bass looked at Plonkis with a puzzled look. “Soultaker? What do you mean?”

“I can tell by his scythe.” Explained Plonkis. “The Soultakers have a scythe that glimmers like it was under moonlight, even when there is no moon present.”

“But just what the heck is a Soultaker?”

“Mysterious beings who serve mysterious masters. They oft go back and forth between planes, worlds and dimensions doing whatever their master's bidding is...usually it's spiriting away something.”

The figure chuckled a little. “Seems like someone knows what they're talking about...” He pointed the scythe at the duo and made his threat, “If you don't come with me...well then you won't get to see her again...”

The manner in which the cloaked figure had delivered his threat made it clear that by “her” he meant Rain. This made Bass shake with anger, and he pointed a finger at the cloaked figure. “What have you done with her?! Tell me now!”

“I can't...unless you come with me. Do it, it'll be much less of a hassle than if I had to make you!”

“Don't let him convince you Bass!” Plonkis said suddenly. “For all we know you could end up a soulless lump floating down a nameless river!”

“You both really have issues trusting people...”he began to approach Plonkis and Bass. “Alright then, seems like I'll be forcing you!”

Plonkis' hands began to glow green. “Not on my watch you won't.”

The cloaked figure, who was merely inches away from the two, laughed. “TK?! Are you seriously trying to use telekinesis against a Soultaker?” He laughed again. Plonkis tried to push him back, but nothing happened. He couldn't lift the cloaked figure, or throw him, or even shoot a blast of telekinetic energy that would knock him back. The figure reached out a hand that had a deep blue glove on over it. This hand, like the one holding the scythe, had only four fingers. The only difference was that poking out of his right glove were long claws that were a nasty purple color. The figure placed his hand on Plonkis' head, and watched as he collapsed almost as soon as the figure's palm touched him.

As Bass began to go into panic mode again he failed to notice Plonkis' body slowly disappearing; the fox was too focused on the cloak approaching him and the thoughts of just what the heck was going to happen. Bass did actually posses his own psychic power, the only problem was that it was severely underdeveloped and usually backfired if he used it. Thus, he had no means to stop the figure from placing his palm on his head. The moment the figure's palm touched Bass' head the fox blacked out and collapsed. Although he was blacked out, he could feel this cool chill throughout his body and even his soul. Soon the fox began coughing, and he awoke. At first he thought he was in the Emerald Forest but at night, however that thought was put to rest when he saw that even though it was at night, the place was lit by blue lanterns that were suspended in the air by some unknown force. The sky was dark, with dozens of stars dotted everywhere, and a full moon was out, only it seemed to be a blue moon. Just the sight of where Bass was seemed to fill the fox with wonder and curiosity that seemed to inspire him down to his very spirit. The fox got up and immediately noticed the cloaked figure sitting on a nearby tree trunk. A nearby lantern illuminated his face: he seemed to be some sort of feline creature, judging from his face, with black fur and neutral looking violet eyes. One could also tell that the cloaked figure was also an adolescent by looking at his face.

“W-where are we? Where did you take us?!” Asked Bass, the curiosity and wonderment evident in his voice.

“Welcome to the Enchanted Forests...” Replied the figure.

“Where's Plonkis? The fox that was with me?”

“Oh don't worry about him...he'll be safe.”

Strangely enough, something about the figure made Bass trust his words.

“I will be your guide for the night...and tonight, we have a festivity to join...” Explained the figure as he stood up slowly. “You're princess friend is going to be there.”

“Princess friend...you mean Rain!? But why did you call her a princess?”

“Because...she's like royalty to you...” The figure smiled.

“Oh...well...I guess I'll have to trust you since...well I've not been to these 'Enchanted Forests' and I guess you have...”

“Shall we get going?”

“Yes! I want to make sure Rain is okay!” Desperation was all to obvious in his voice.

“Then let us go...by the by my name's Dusk.”

“Oh, Dusk is it? I'm--”

“Bass, yes I know.”

“How do you--”

Dusk cut the fox off. “There will be time for that...and other things...”

And as the two walked down the illuminated path of the Enchanted Forest Bass began to assault Dusk with all sorts of questions concerning where they were and all the unique things he was seeing. Truly these forest were a place of enchantment and wonderment. Dusk only hoped that Bass would not get too lost in the wonderment to impede them heavily on their walk to the festivities...Dusk would hate to be late.
Well, only time would tell...