How was it possible? How? It was supposed to be over! These thoughts raced throughout Rayden's mind. He was watching the news, and it was showing over and over and over again, his former leader's declaration of war.

"Joseph's gone to far!" he yelled. "Didn't he learn his lesson!!?!?"

Rayden shook his head. But before he could think further, there was a hard pounding at the door. He got up slowly, and walked over to it. He opened it and there were five soldiers standing in front of him. He saw the Dark Crescent against their white uniforms and knew them at once to be Black Moon Elite.

"What do you want?" Rayden asked.

One of the soldiers stepped forward,

"Rayden Keil?" he asked.

"Yeah, so?" Rayden replied.

"You are to come with us at once."

Rayden shook his head and laughed.

"If Joseph really thinks I'm going to come back willingly, then you can go tell him that he's crazy."

"Who is it daddy?"

Rayden glanced over his shoulder and saw his small three - year old son Paul.

"You misunderstand me Mr. Keil," the soldier said smiling. "Joseph doesn't expect you to come willingly." The soldier immediately grabbed Rayden's son by the arm and pulled him towards him.

"No!" Rayden yelled and lunged at the soldier.

"No further!" said the soldier pressing his pistol to the boy's head. "Another step and he dies!"

The small boy began to cry. Rayden knew he had no choice.

"Alright." he said softly. "Just let him go!"

The soldier smiled and removed the gun and said to the boy,

"Go."

The boy ran to his father who embraced him.

The rest of his family had heard the commotion and ran downstairs. His wife, and his 10 year old son. They saw the soldiers and knew what was going on. The soldier turned to his men.

"Get in the truck!"

The soldiers did so, and the officer followed them. Rayden fondly embraced his wife and then turned to his eldest son.

"Take good care of your mother" he said. The boy nodded.

Rayden put on his black leather jacket and picked up his pokeballs.

"We're going to war again boys." he said softly. "Let's make sure we return."

He put the pokeballs inside his jacket and walked to the truck.

*****************

The boat quietly floated up on shore. Ash waved his hand, and the soldiers made there way onto the beach.

"Secure the perimeter." Ash spoke into his two - way radio. The soldiers spread out. Some laid down on the soft sand; some kneeled down behind rocks.

Ash heard Brock's voice over the radio,

"All clear."

"Roger that." Ash replied. "Move in."

The soldiers began to move forward cautious, but fast. Ash heard a voice he didn't recognize. But he knew it was one of the soldiers.

"I can see the lights of Arsela sir."

Ash looked ahead. Sure enough, there were the bright lights of the port town.

"Ok guys, this is it." Ash said, "Radio silence."

The soldiers were now moving with a great pace. In three minutes they were at the walls of the city. It was completely silent inside the town. Ash waved for Tom to come forward. The small boy ran to Ash.

"Are you ready?" asked Ash. Tom nodded. And Ash handed him a satchel charge.

"Once this thing is set you have ten seconds to find cover. Ok?"

"Okay." Tom replied.

"Good luck." Ash said

Tom smiled. Then Ash made a cradle with his hands. Tom put his right foot in it, and Ash pushed up. Tom disappeared over the wall.

"Get the ladder ready." Ash said. A small ladder was brought forward and set against the wall.

Time began to tick slowly away.

"The bomb should have gone off by now!" Brock said. And as if by chance, they all heard a loud bang inside the town, and a huge fireball rose above the town. Ash smiled, then he yelled at his men,

"Over the walls!!!!!"

The men moved fast, climbing the ladder and hurling themselves over the wall. Ash was the last one over. Once he had landed on the other side, he noticed that disorganized Black Moon troops, most still in there nightgowns, had begun to fire upon the militia. But there aim was wild and Ash knew that they had achieved surprise.

The sounds of gunfire rose on the night air. The militia had taken sufficient cover, and had not taken any hits so far.

Brock, who was all ready commanding five troops, seemed to Ash to be doing well. So, he took the other five and led them to a building for shelter.

"Open fire!" Ash yelled.

The men raised their weapons and began to fire. The Black Moon soldiers, who were still thinking that Brock's men were the only ones around, raised shouts of dismay. The soldiers fell with cries of agony and pain. Ash flinched as a bullet struck a soldier in the face, blood instantly poured out of his head and the man fell screaming and groping were his face used to be. Several more bullets flew from the militia's weapons, and struck the remaining soldiers, and they fell to the ground dead.

Brock stood up and walked over to Ash. The rest of the militia searched for survivors.

"You okay Ash?" Brock asked with concern.

Ash shook his head. "No. But it's just something I'll have to get used to."

Brock nodded. Then he walked over to the other men.

Ash was still lost is thought when it hit him. Tom! He immediately ran over to the burning pile of rubble were the barracks once were. The fire was still raging so Ash could not get close enough to see any thing.

"Tom!!!" he yelled. "Where are you?!?!"

"Here I am Ash sir!" said Tom walking up to him. His face was black and sooty.

Ash breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where were you?" he asked.

"After I set the bomb, I hid behind that building over there." Tom said pointing.

Ash looked to where Tom was pointing. In front of them was the biggest of all the buildings in the town.

"What is it?" wondered Ash out loud.

"I can tell you what that is." Ash heard a voice behind him say.

Ash whirled around. In front of him stood a young man that looked a little older then him. Behind the man stood a young girl that looked to be about Ash's age.

"I'm Taylor," said the young man extending his hand. Ash shook it, and then Taylor motioned to the girl behind him.

"This is my sister, Claire."

The girl stepped forward, and also extended her had to Ash, he took it, but didn't let go. He looked into the girl's eyes, something about this girl reminded him of someone. The girl was also looking into his eyes intently. His mind quickly snapped back to reality, he let go of the girl's hand and blushed. He turned to Taylor and asked,

"So, what is that building?"

Taylor answered, "It was our Town Hall before Black Moon invaded. Now it's their weapons storage building."

"Ash!"

Ash turned his head to see Brock walking towards them.

"Hey Brock!" Ash said. "Any survivors?"

Brock nodded. "Three."

"Good." Ash said. "This is Taylor and Claire."

"Hello." said Brock. Ash continued. "They said that this building is where Black Moon is storing their weapons. But I don't want to go in until Jake and Tracy arrive."

Ash turned to the militiamen. "Ok guys relax and keep moving!"

The men began to slowly make their way through the town. But, before they had gone far, a shot rang out, a militiaman fell, and troops were seen advancing.

"Take cover!!" Ash yelled. Taylor, Tom, and Brock lunged behind some boxes, but Claire stood still, petrified with fear.

Ash ran at full speed toward her. He saw out of the corner of his eye a soldier raising his gun at her. Ash lunged. The soldier fired three shots, but none found their mark. Ash had pulled Claire to safety, but he felt burning pain in his chest. He looked down and saw three red marks on his chest. Blood began to pour out of them. Ash fell to the ground, and everything went black.