[ WP ] Lt. Surge is in the hospital recovering from PTSD caused by what he saw in the last Pokemon War .

Lt. Surge sat down on the couch, slumping forward with his elbows on his knees. He was waiting. The psychiatrist said that he'd have a specialist come in today, someone else to talk to. The door opened, and a woman with an impassive face walked in. 
 
 `` Sabrina?'' 
 
 She nodded silently, and sat down. `` Hello, Surge.'' 
 
 `` You're the specialist?'' The man's eyes widened briefly before returning to their deadened look. `` I guess that makes sense. You're a psychic, after all.'' 
 
 `` While true, I am actually here because of our common experiences as Gym Leaders,'' she replied, her voice betraying no emotion, just as Lt. Surge had remembered from their last service together. Her Kadabra had laid bleeding out from dozens of cuts inflicted by a Victreebel's Razor Leaf, and she had merely taken out another Pokeball. The memory sent chills down Lt. Surge's spine. 
 
 `` How can you be so... detached?'' he asked, shaking his head. 
 
 Sabrina's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. `` We do what needs to be done for the safety of the world.'' 
 
 She had said something like that on the battlefield, Lt. Surge recalled. It was during the last war, one in a string of many. Red had just been drafted for combat after becoming Pokemon Champion. The boy was merely ten. He was too young. His Charizard, unchained by the Pokemon power limiting radio frequencies in Kanto, charged onto the battlefield, and scorched everything in its wake. Dozens and dozens of wild Pokemon fell, succumbing to the blistering burns of Fire Blast - Pidgeys and Pikachus, Jigglypuffs and Poliwags. They achieved their objective through brute force, planting more radiowave emitters and expanding Kanto's safe borders by a few dozen square miles littered with the dead bodies of Pokemon. After the battle, Red had asked Sabrina something - Lt. Surge could n't quite remember the words - but Sabrina's answer had been the same. 
 
 *We do what needs to be done for the safety of the world. * 
 
 `` So, we train child soldiers.'' 
 
 `` We need the best. If that means children, then yes.'' 
 
 Red had been an energetic, talkative boy when Lt. Surge first met him at Vermilion Gym, but the war built a wall of silence around him. After the war, Red retreated to the mountains, refusing all outside contact. 
 
 `` Do n't you feel any regret? Sadness? Anything?'' Lt. Surge's bitter voice growled more than asked. 
 
 When he got no response, he looked up from the ground. 
 
 Tears rolled down Sabrina's expressionless face. `` Yes,'' came the toneless reply. 
 
 The pair of veterans sat in an awkward silence, each lost in the painful memories of the past. Finally, Lt. Surge reached out a hand. 
 
 `` Hey,'' he started, but could n't think of anything to say. 
 
 Sabrina wordlessly took his hand. On her face was the faintest of weary smiles.
