Ava did not have her own alarm clock to wake herself up. Thankfully the pokemon center had an automatic alarm go through the barracks at 7am. While she had been annoyed by it the first times she had heard it, now she was glad to have something to prevent her from sleeping through her first shift.
As the other bleary-eyed trainers in the room got ready for the day, Ava joined them, taking a shower and brushing her teeth in the communal bathrooms. She had washed her uniform last night and hung it up on the bunk bed she shared with Amiyra who had woken up even earlier to go on a run.
Putting on the trainer's uniform for some reason felt embarrassing. It was as if she was playing pretend despite being specifically given these. The uniform consisted of a black undershirt with a green jacket and dark pants. The Pokémon trainer emblem of a white poke ball was embroidered on each of them, fully labeling her as a Pokémon trainer on a mission to civilians.
She remembers seeing boots for sale at the poke mart. Once she started making money, she might have to invest in a pair, especially if she was going to be venturing outside the wall again. The white shoes she wore for her ordeal still had dirt stains on them and were out of place compared to the rest of her uniform.
Her shift went from 9am-3pm, she scarfed down some breakfast, made sure Lucky had his bandana on, and gave him a quick heal so he would be in tip-top shape for today. Her excitement for passing her exam and figuring out what she needed for today led her to forget about the hidden power TM she was given. It would have to wait till after her shift. She boarded the magnet train and got off at the station closest to where she was assigned.
The area she was in was a more commercial part of the city. Lots of shops and restaurants. Being near people who viewed her as a trainer was a new experience for Ava. Since being selected, she has stayed in the trainer district, as she wasn’t allowed to leave until she became a D-Rank. Now that she was around people, she was acutely aware of the fact that most civilians did not like trainers. On the train, she saw mothers pulling their kids closer, people giving her wary glances, and a berth of space between her and any other rider. It made her feel like a criminal.
Walking through the city was no better. While she wasn’t heckled or attacked, people crossed the street when they saw her coming if they could. There was an overabundance of caution surrounding her that she had never experienced. Looking back, she had definitely acted the same way when she was younger, and her family helped by gently steering her away from trainers. Being on the other end of the treatment was unexpected.
As she got closer to a guard post, there were less and less buildings, until there was a sudden stop in architecture all together. This opened up to a large park. Many years ago, there were lots of pokemon attacks around this area due to the proximity to the wall and the forest, where a large amount of flying Pokémon could be found.
The area was renovated, and the wall extended further out to contain a large stretch of parks that spanned across a majority of the wall that stretched from both sides of the west gate. The additional space allowed for easier paths to patrol and fewer civilians to be injured if a pokemon were to attack. Civilians were allowed to go to the park, and many still did, despite the higher risk of a pokemon attack. Ava had been here a couple of times as a kid, but not as much as some of her peers.
The whole park is technically called Patterson Park due to the sheer size; however, it often gets split up arbitrarily, which changes depending on who’s talking about it. Ava remembered getting into arguments with her classmates on what different sections were called.
That was probably why the mission details didn’t specify where in the park in terms she had heard before, but instead she was to go to a guardhouse labeled West-3. It was the third warehouse from the west gate to the north gate.
Entering cautiously, she was greeted by the sight of a small room with a table, some cabinets, a computer, a door with a sign showing it led to a bathroom, and another door. There were two people, a guy and a girl, inside talking.
“Um, hello, I’m here for my first guard shift.” Ava stated, hoping she was in the right place.
Recognition dawned on the guy's face, and he smiled, “Yes, I was told about you; welcome to being a trainer rookie! My name is Riley. It’s great to meet you!” He held out his hand, which Ava shook.
“It’s great to meet you too,” Ava greeted. Riley was almost as tall as her, a rarity at her 6’2 height, which usually lets her loom over most people. She could easily meet his gaze without looking down, and his enthusiastic personality made her relax a little.
“I will be this shift's lead, so you will be reporting to me. That person over there is the previous shift lead. You're around 15 minutes early, which is the perfect time for me to walk through essentials. First, let’s get you clocked it.” He led her over to the computer and pulled up an app. “We aren't paid hourly, so clocking in and out is more of a way to keep track of guard personal and resources in the event of an emergency. You won't have to clock in to other missions if you take them on. There are other systems in place for those.” Ava swiped her card when he signaled. “When you end your shift, just make sure to clock out. I will be here to remind you, so don’t worry too much about that.”
“So this is a typical guard mission. In most guard houses, outside certain exceptions and emergencies, there are three guards on duty at a time. Two of those will be the ones who patrol, keeping an eye out for pokemon and protecting the civilians. They usually consist of D-Rank trainers, but C-Rankers get assigned or take the jobs sometimes too. The shift lead is typically a C or B-Rank. As a C-Rank I will be your lead. While you are all patrolling, I will be monitoring the
radio, managing the intercom, responding to situations, and dealing with anything that is too difficult for you.”
“As it’s your first day here, you will be shadowing one of the other trainers. They can walk you through the ropes of the actual patrol and what the shift will look like.”
Ava had been too focused on their conversation; she hadn’t noticed another person slink in. It was a gloomy looking guy who very much looked like he didn’t want to talk. She hoped she didn’t have to shadow him today, or it might be a long day. Just as she was thinking that, the door opened, and another person entered the room.
“Oh great, it’s you,” the newcomer said dryly. Of course, it was Oliver. She hadn’t seen the guy since the ordeal, but he suddenly appeared at her first shift.
“Do you two know each other?” Riley asked.
“Something like that,” Ava responded.
“Perfect, that makes things easier. You can shadow him today.” Maybe the gloomy guy might have been a better choice. Ava didn’t say anything, though, and neither did Oliver. Both not wanting to go against their pseudo-boss for the day.
Not long after that, another person entered the warehouse. It was getting a little crowded with six people in there, but that didn’t last long. The person who entered was on the previous shift, and they were here to replace them. Riley chose her and Oliver to go out first, so they left the guardhouse, starting the patrol.
Oliver explained to her how the point of patrols was to look around to see if any pokemon slipped through the cracks and report that back, as well as to be prepared to protect civilians.
Along the way, Ava moved to release Lucky when Oliver stopped her, “Don’t release your pokemon here.”
“Why? I thought we needed them to patrol?” Ava asked.
“While we are close to a wall, this is still a civilian park. Having a pokemon out when not needed can cause tensions. It’s best to just wait to see if they are needed.”
That made sense to Ava, so she kept the poke ball in her pocket. She saw Oliver had a poke belt. It reminded her of another thing she needed to buy once she got some more money. At a closer glance, she noticed that his belt only had one poke ball. Curious.
Oliver continued to show her the ropes as they walked through the park. It really was a nice day out with the breeze blowing gently across the park. She could get used to this if all days were as nice as this. Without anything happening that Oliver could explain, the stuff he had to tell her ran out pretty quick, and silence rang between them.
“So, how have you been since the Ordeal?”
“Fine,” he said, not looking like he was going to elaborate or ask about her. The quiet came back in full force.
Ava let her curiosity get the better of her. “So, what happened to your larvitar?”
He shot her a sharp glance. “How did you hear about that? Are you stalking me?”
“What? No!” Ava replied incredulously. “Cunningham told me after she told you.”
He sighed, “Of course she did. If you must know, I got rid of him.”
“Can I ask why?” Seeing his eyes harden, she elaborated. “Not in a judgmental way or anything. I’ve just realized there’s a lot that I don’t know about this, and you seem to know a lot, so I’m genuinely just curious.”
He didn’t answer for a little before finally responding, “So she told you about how once he evolved into a pupitar they would have to give him a permanent everstone right?” Seeing her nod, he continued, “Do you know what a pupitar is?”
At this point, Ava didn’t have much of an answer. While she had heard of it, she didn’t really know anything about it. There were so many pokemon it was hard to keep track sometimes when she’s been so focused on getting her pidove up to par.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Seeing her fumble for an answer, Oliver took that as a no. “Pupitars are like a cocoon but for a rock pokemon instead of a bug. Their shells are much harder, but they have the same limit of having no limbs. They can’t really move around besides flailing wildly. While this can be effective in certain situations, in the long term, not so much, especially when there is no end to it through evolution. As a trainer, the most important thing is versatility. How would a pupitar be able to beat a flying pokemon, or run after a Pokémon fleeing into a city? How could one protect me outside the walls? The answer is that it couldn’t. When I caught it, I was willing to put up with that for the potential of what it could become. An extremely strong Pokémon that could take on most threats. Without that and with another pokemon ready to be tamed, there was no point in wasting any time by keeping him.”
He obviously put a lot of thought into this decision. He really did know a lot more about pokemon than she did. Now that she’s having a real conversation with him, she realized just how young he looked. He was over three years younger than her, and she could tell. His cheeks still held some youthful fat to them, and he was on the shorter side. To be fair, she wasn’t sure if that was due to his age or if he was just kind of short. He looked even more out of place in that uniform than she did. Her previous annoyances towards him might have been unfair to a degree and come from her fear instead of actual dislike. Not wanting the conversation to end, she asked, "So what did you do with him?”
“I sold him.”
“To who? Wouldn’t no one want him for that exact reason?”
“Not every city and region have the same restrictions that we have. While he may have been worthless to trainers here, that doesn’t change the fact that he was a very rare pokemon and in a place where he could actually evolve, he was very valuable. I made a lot of money off that sale.”
“Ooh how much?”
“I’m not telling you that,” he said firmly. “It doesn't matter anyway. I’m not going to have it much longer.”
“If it doesn’t matter then why don’t you tell me?” Ava needled. “And if it’s that much money, what are you spending it on this quickly?”
“If I told you how much, you would probably try to kill me and steal the money.” Ava’s affronted hey went unresponded to. “I’m using the money to catch a better second pokemon.”
No matter how much she wheedled he didn’t tell her anything more about his plans for the money or how much he made. Now that the ice was broken though conversation flowed easier.
Every 30 minutes, Oliver gave a report that he saw no problem. As they walked through the park, most people gave them a large berth once they saw the trainer uniforms.
It had been a pretty uneventful couple of hours when the walkie-talkie crackled to life. It was Riley on the other line. “A group of rattata have been seen near West-3, moving towards West-4. Does anyone have eyes?”
Oliver picked up, “Oliver here, we are closer to West-4. We can head back to West-3 and be ready when we see them.”
“Lloyd here. I’m nearer to West-3. I will keep my eyes open and head towards West-4.” That must have been the gloomy guy she had seen at the guardhouse.
“Copy that. As soon as you notice anything, reach out to me,” Riley said.
The intercoms in the immediate area then started playing alarms, and a voice rang out, “Wild pokemon have been spotted in the area; civilians, please evacuate the park.” That message repeated multiple times, and she saw people quickly gathering their things and leaving the park. Some were even sprinting out.
Oliver turned to her and grabbed the ball in his belt. “Now is when we would release our pokemon.” With a flash of light, his teddiursa appeared. Following his lead, Ava let out Lucky.
“Alright Lucky some rattata are in the area. If we find them, we are going to have to fight them, so be prepared. I want you to fly around, but stay near me and keep your eye out for them. If you see any other pokemon besides that one over there, you come and let me know, okay?” Ava explained the situation, pointing to Oliver’s teddiursa so he knew that one wasn’t the threat.
Chirping in affirmation, Lucky took flight, making little circles above her on the lookout.
It looks like Oliver gave instructions to his teddiursa as well, so they started a brisk pace back toward the West-3 guardhouse, keeping their eye out for any motion. Ava thought she had seen something twice, but it was just the wind shaking bushes.
They first real sign they had was Lucky returning to Ava to get her attention. “Did you see anything?” He nodded and started flying ahead of them to the right. She alerted Oliver that Lucky might have seen something, and they both followed the bird pokemon. He soon stopped and faced ahead of them. At first, Ava didn’t see anything, but then she saw a group of six or so rattata running toward them. “Oliver-,” she went to notify him, but he had already seen and had the walkie-talkie at the ready.
“Oliver here, we have eyes on the rattata. There are around seven headed towards us.”
“Lloyd here. I should be close by. Where are you?”
“There are no distinct landmarks near us. It’s an open area, though not too many trees.”
“Can any of your pokemon send a signal?”
“Not yet. My only ranged move won’t go that high in the air for you to see.” Ava got an idea and shook Oliver’s arm. He tried to brush her off, but she held firm and pointed towards Lucky. Understanding bloomed on his face. “We are going to send a pidove up above us. Let me know when you see it.”
Ava told Lucky to fly high in the air above the nearby trees. The radio was silent as the wild pokemon got closer to them. Finally, there was a response from Lloyd. “I see it. You’re close by. I’ll be there soon.”
Ava called Lucky back down to her. Oliver was using his teddiursa’s hidden power to slow down the pokemon. The brown orbs of energy knocked some back, and one seemed to be down for the count, but the rest continued on their path.
“Lucky Gust,” Ava commanded. He flew closer and sent a gust towards them. Half of them were able to dodge, while the others were hit. It didn’t seem to slow them down that much, because they kept coming, “Again.” Lucky sent another gust towards them. This caused the pack to split up, and two of the pokemon came her way.
“Lucky Growl.” Hearing this, he growled cutely at the rattata making them falter and slow down. They now focused on Lucky.
“Keep using Gust,” Lucky sent multiple gusts toward the two rats. They were able to keep dodging the moves while unsuccessfully trying to reach the flying pokemon. However, one was slower than the other and eventually got hit a couple of times. Realizing it wouldn’t be able to reach Lucky, the ratatta changed tactics and turned towards Ava.
Ava realized she had positioned herself badly. The wild pokemon kept her and Lucky’s attention, and the way they had been fighting the rattata was now in between Lucky and her.
“Lucky Peck on this one,” Ava said, a little panicked as a ratatta started charging her. A slight glow gave it a burst of energy. That must have been an undeveloped quick attack. Knowing her Pokémon wouldn’t be able to reach her in time, she prepared herself to be hit. She barely had time to react before she had to whip out her leg, nailing the ratatta as hard as she could. She made a solid hit, and the rattata yelped as it flew backwards. It wasn’t able to get back up before Lucky slammed a peck into it, knocking it to the ground, where another Peck made sure it didn’t get up. Her leg throbbed after hitting it. She might have to spray a potion on it later.
The other rattata fled back in the direction it had come from. She turned to see if Oliver needed any help, but was just in time to see his teddiursa take down what looked to be the third rattata. He turned to her, “Were you able to get all of them?”
“One of them ran away in that direction faster than I could catch him.” She pointed in the direction it ran off.
“Same.” Pulling out the walkie-talkie, he made a report. “Oliver here, five rattata have been subdued. Two have run off in the direction they came from.”
Riley responded, “Good, stay there, Lloyd; keep your eyes out for the other two.”
There was a pause before Lloyd answered, “I just caught one, and I see the other. I’ll be able to take care of it.”
“Alright. Lloyd, go to where Oliver is when you're finished and bring the bodies. Ava, return to the guardhouse for supplies. Oliver, stay where you are and guard the bodies.”
Oliver and Lloyd responded with affirmatives. “Do you know the way back?” Oliver asked.
“Yeah, I can figure it out. Lucky, come here.” Scratching her bird neck in the way he liked, she started walking away from Oliver, but not before he gave his teddiursa the command to finish the job and kill the rattata that were laying about.
“You did a very good job today, Lucky! I’ll make sure to give you some treats when we get back. You can stay on my shoulder if you want, or you can follow me while flying while I head back.” He chose to rest against her shoulder. He hadn’t had this much activity since she had him, so he must have been tired.
Ava made her way back to the guardhouse with very few mistakes in direction. She had seen Lloyd on her way back carrying a rattata by the tail while a raticate walked by his side with one in its mouth. When she entered the guardhouse, Riley handed her some trash bags and ties. “We have a dumpster near the gate where the bodies can be thrown into. You and Oliver can bring them back and then take your lunch break. Lloyd will stay out and patrol while you do that. You did a good job for your first time. Keep up the good work.”
Grabbing the supplies, Ava went back to Oliver. He and Lloyd were guarding the dead bodies and worked with her to bag all of them. Touching them felt gross, even if just by the tails, due to the blood. She had the irrational thought that they were faking it and would attack her. That wasn't the case, thankfully, and they were able to clean the area quickly. Ava let them know what Riley told her, and she headed back to the guardhouse with Oliver. They kept their pokemon out just in case they missed anything, and teddiursa even carried a bag. After his rest, Lucky used this chance to stretch his wings some more.
Lunch wasn't the most interesting affair. After throwing the bodies in the dumpster that would be disposed of by the end of the day, Ava quickly ate what she had brought in her backpack. A couple granola bars and chips. She didn't know the guardhouses had small mini fridges, so she didn't bring anything that would require refrigeration. Once she ate, she fed Lucky a mixture of seeds and nutritional pellets. They then replaced Lloyd and went back out to patrol. An alert must have been sent out that the area was now safe because Ava saw some people start to come back to the park.
There were no other disturbances for the rest of her shift. When she got back to the guardhouse, she was shown how to check out of the system and that the money would be automatically deposited to her account within 2-3 days.
She rode the magnet train back with Oliver. Despite it being busy, they had plenty of room to themselves. It was on the way back that Oliver asked his first question of the day, “Why didn’t you use your other pokemon?”
Slightly surprised he initiated the conversation, she responded, “Well, it turns out I used too much force when trying to catch it, and it didn’t survive.”
“That was stupid of you. You shouldn’t have tried to fight it.”
“Yeah, it was kinda stupid.”
Silence sat between them. “I’m sorry though. That can’t have been fun,” Oliver said awkwardly.
“It’s all good. I was sad at first, but it was more about what could have been, you know. I’m just glad I didn’t have to retake the Ordeal. It was probably for the best, though. Lucky took up most of my time trying to take care of him.”
“Still, though, sorry that happened.”
“Thanks,” Ava said softly. “Now we're starting out in the same boat. Trainers with one pokemon,” she joked, nudging him with her elbow.
“Shut up,” he said, pushing her away.
The rest of the ride went by in a comfortable quiet. While they didn’t start on the best terms, Ava felt better knowing there wasn’t total animosity between them.
Now that her first mission was over, she felt more confident about being able to fend for herself. While she definitely needed more training to be able to handle a situation like that on her own, her first step felt very sturdy so far.
