Arrival at Island X - Spotted by the four Armies!

Zooommmm!

The space rippled, and the earth thrummed. A bright blue flash.

And Kai found himself standing on a rocky terrain, surrounded by thin greenery and dry scrubland.

He smelled water.

Thinking nothing, as these habits were rooted in his bones, Kai threw himself into the cover of bushes under a rather large boulder. Meanwhile, with only a few dozen feet of running, he also got a good measure of his strength.

The dry leaves and branches at the top of the bush cracked as Kai threw himself under them. Only then did he take another breath.

In his previous life, Kai had spent months in the jungle, alone. And that jungle terrain contained the most absurd monsters one could imagine.

Kai had survived there. He would survive now.

Kai clenched and unclenched his fingers, and nodded to himself. He could feel his power. It was still there. But it could have been a misconception, he knew. The Systems had clearly told him he would be at the same power level as a Trooper Ranked soldier.

'Not that bad, I guess,' Kai thought, not making unnecessary movements. 'I still have my Abilities, and they will let me overpower anyone at my power level at least.'

The surroundings were buzzing with the call of birds, insects, and the rustling of leaves as the dry wind scraped the drier trees. Kai listened to these noises for half an hour, trying to hear any unnatural sound; a sound of intelligence.

None.

Kai took a relieving breath. "Where am I?" he asked, bringing the Smartwatch up to his face. "Show me the full extent of terrain and all data covered by maps."

Beep!

The Smartwatch beeped, but Kai noticed it had only occurred in his head. That was something to be relieved about, too, for he got to know that the light and flash of projection coming out of the Smartwatch was only for his eyes, then.

[

Welcome to Island X, Kai.

I am your AI helper for the 3rd Stage. Would you like to give me a name?

]

The corner of Kai's mouth twitched.

He blurted out the first word that came to his mind. "Smarty."

[

Let me first show you the full aerial view accessible to you, Kai. This is the general view of Island X from an altitude of 3000 km.

You must keep in mind that the map you will see now doesn't show real-time imagery.

However, you can know your real-time location, and you can also place labels on it.

]

The projection shook, and an island took shape in front of Kai's eyes that looked like an inverted form of the Greek letter, Beta.

A tiny, red dot was flashing on the island's western side, near the coastline.

Smarty's voice appeared in Kai's head, then.

[

Island X has an area of 592,800 square kilometers.

Along the length of the eastern coast, runs a narrow and steep escarpment containing much of the island's remaining tropical lowland rainforest. To the west of the rainforest lies the Central Highlands, with valleys lying between grassy hills and patches of subhumid forests. And, to the west of the highlands, the increasingly arid terrain gradually slopes down to the Mozambique Channel and mangrove swamps along the coast.

The western and southern sides of Island X, which lie in the rain shadow of the central highlands, are home to dry deciduous forests, spiny forests, and deserts and xeric shrublands.

Your current location is Lake Andranomena, north of the river Mania, and near the western coast of Island X.

Would you like to have a closer look?

]

Kai tried giving commands by mind, using Telepathy but failed. He must speak, and that sounded extremely stupid to him. "Zoom In."

Kai couldn't help but feel that Island X was just too big. At least it was way bigger than the island of the 1st Stage.

The projection shook, and a circular map appeared over the Smartwatch, a red dot flashing on it, dead center.

[

Under the altitude of 3000 km, I can only access a circular area with a 50 km radius around you. As you Rank up, this area will increase accordingly.

]

"Can you Zoom In on any location within this area?" Kai asked, narrowing his eyes.

[

No. I can only Zoom In on you.

]

With that, Smarty zoomed in but the circle around the red dot kept becoming shorter as if that dot was a constraint over its capabilities.

Kai could now see an outline of the lake, and the general topography near it.

'Better than nothing,' Kai evaluated. "OK, now tell me who these soldiers are so that I can plan early."

[

I have no such data, Kai. I, too, came into being with your arrival on the Island. You must search for the answers by yourself.

However, you can use me to put labels, and know the Rank and general information about any soldier within the spherical radius of 1 km around you, if encountered.

You can monitor labeled lifeforms within the 50 km area available to you on the maps.

Moreover, such labels will not disappear with time, which means even if you were to lose the tracks of the labeled lifeform, it would appear automatically on the map, once entered.

]

Kai frowned, still not understanding what enemy he would face and disappeared on hearing the monitor radius. This indeed was a great function.

Suddenly, Kai's throat felt dry.

The heat was scorching, and his hiding place assisted him no better, either. Not to mention, the lake was just behind the boulder.

He couldn't just keep sitting here, could he?

Kai took a deep breath and peeked out from the bushes. When he saw no sign of movement, he hurriedly slithered into the shade of the bushes. A low cliff was sloping down to the lake's banks, he noticed.

Before heading down, Kai picked up a branch. At the same time, three bars appeared over the Smartwatch, glowing with red, blue, and yellow colors.

Then Kai snapped his fingers.

Click! Click! Click!!

After three times, the branch finally transfigured into a plastic bottle. The MP bar had lost half of its points by then. Kai still didn't jump down, though, despite feeling dizzy from the sudden loss of Mana.

He picked up an ordinary stone and threw it away from his location into the lake.

The stone fell with a resounding splash, the noise echoing far into the distance.

Kai waited over 20 minutes to get a response. Nothing.

With a powerful lunge, Kai jumped down the slope and began filling the bottle, determined to not stay in the open before knowing the enemy in and out.

It was then the first noise entered his ears.

It was then a cry boomed in his mind.

Cryyyyyy!!!

Kai snapped his head up, his feet already shifting back. But then he suddenly paused, his eyes widening.

At first, Kai felt like it was a massive bird. But the more the silhouette closed on him, descending from the sky, the more recognized it.

It was not a bird…

Yes, it had a vulture-like neck, with broad and powerful brown wings. Yes, it had cream-colored feathers, and a red coxcomb on its head.

And, yes, it had a long, pointed, pink beak.

But it wasn't a bird. Not a normal one, at least.

'This?' Kai wondered, now running at full speed. 'This is…'

Cry!!!!

The giant vulture-like not-bird cried, entering the 1 km radius above Kai and its long talon outstretched.

The Smartwatch beeped instantly.

Beep!

[

Soldier detected in direct line of sight. New Data is now accessible.

Soldier General Info:

1. Pokemon: Fearow, Captain of the 36th Platoon, Flying Battalion

2. Points: 500

3. Army: The Original Ones

]

'I should have known,' Kai cursed, a blood mist escaping his mouth. 'I should have fucking known!'

Using Selfless Breathing, Kai ran for the cover of bushes, hoping to shake the Pokemon off. Fearow was still letting out cries, descending toward him like a bullet.

It was then Kai inadvertently looked over his shoulder, trying to have a measure of the gap between him and the Pokemon, when he got a shock that he would remember for years.

Fearow… was not alone.

There was a boy on Fearow's back, riding it. But it looked more like it was the Pokemon who was carrying him.

And… Kai recognized him as well. Or, it was better to say that he recognized the thing in the boy's hand, and pointed at him.

Kai's eyes went wide.

Beep!

[

Soldier detected in direct line of sight. New Data is now accessible.

Soldier General Info:

1. Wizard: Ryan McMillan, Trooper of the 196th Platoon, Flying Battalion

2. Points: 100

3. Army: Death Eaters

]

"Stupefy!" the wizard cried, shooting out a jet of blue from the end of his wand.

Kai ducked away, the gears of his Instincts spinning, uncaring of his heart's shock.

Cry!!!

Fearow threw itself at Kai, its large, pointy beak spinning like a furious drill.

Hiss!

A massive amount of blood mist escaped Kai's mouth, his entire body bubbling with power. His legs kicked the earth, and with one dash, Kai dodged the attack and ran off into the thin forest.

Behind him, Fearow chased, maneuvering through the half-leafless trees. The boy over it was holding its large neck tight, trying to aim the wand at Kai.

'Pokemon…' the word rocked waves in Kai's mind as he blurred from tree to tree, trying to throw the pursuers off. '… and Harry Potter… What the fuck?!'

Kai was still wondering about the other armies when he felt something amiss.

Fearow had flown up into the sky and was now hovering many hundred meters up, eying Kai's blurring image.

It was as if…

'It's sending command from a vantage point…' Kai's heart jumped.

And the earth shook.

The entire ground beneath Kai's feet trembled, the sounds of hooves thundering in the distance.

Kai stopped dead in his tracks.

From the distance, dozens of massive destriers were charging at him, carrying armored soldiers. Their lances, swords, and morning stars burned like steely fire under the sun.

And one of them was carrying an enormous banner as well, a snowy mountain over a blue background, the entire cloth fluttering as if it was amid a storm.

Beep!

Only now Kai felt like he hated this beep.

[

Soldiers detected in direct line of sight. New Data is now accessible.

Soldiers General Info:

1. Armati: Cavalry Troopers of the 66th Platoon, Ground Battalion

2. Army: Eternal Snow

]

Kai's face had gone blank. Shocked, he was, yes. But, now that he was already facing the truth, his mind automatically calmed down and began calculating.

The very first question was something Kai had asked himself countless times by now.

'How did they find me?' Kai asked himself, not believing that he had taken ample precautionary actions. 'Only… Only a hunter can think like another hunter.'

Despite being eyed by Fearow and Ryan, and despite the cavalry charging at him, Kai closed his eyes.

His Haki pulsed within him and pulsed out, all distractions erasing out of his mind. The rustle of the wind, the pounding of hooves, the flutter of wings, and… a breath.

Kai snapped open his eyes and looked at a tree, some 300 hundred away from him. No one was there.

But something did look back at him. Something invisible

Beep!

[

Soldier detected in direct line of sight. New Data is now accessible.

Soldier General Info:

1. Yautja: Un-Blooded, Trooper of the 798th Platoon, Support Battalion

2. Points: 100

3. Army: Star Beast Brotherhood

]

'Well,' Kai thought, surrounded from every side, his lips arching up, 'this is gonna be more fun than I'd thought. Hehe!'