Chapter 1
There could never be a day where one would rest peacefully.
Henry Park knew that well, in fact all Faradians knew that well. He had been taught since the age of five that life was daily survival. Everyday life depended on decisions that were carefully made, and these decisions can spell the meaning between life and death. Henry had stared fate in the eye when he foolishly went up against the legendary pikachu, Tesla Westinghouse. He nearly lost his raichu that week. It was a scary time for Henry. The thoughts of the classes he took back in school kept circulating through his head. The SERE classes, the Wilderness Survival classes, the kind of classes that give you knowledge that you hope you would never use. Those classes came back to Henry within days after the event. He brushed up on his old textbooks, then took great care in inspecting the locks around his home. If Tesla could get into locked houses, anyone can.
He drove down the older residential districts of Faraday City in the dead of night. The streets were lit with bright outdoor lamps. Bright bluish-white light lit up the buildings and road like a stage. The sky was black, not even the brightest star was visible. Henry tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he passed the old brick buildings. Rai Rai sat in the passenger seat next to him. He was dead asleep, snoring softly while bubbling snot out his nose. Henry hoped Rai Rai wouldn't make a mess on the seat. He was driving a rented moving van. Any gram of dirt left in the cab when he returns it would make the rental company slap a hefty fine on the bill, which would double the total rental cost. Henry grabbed a tissue from the tissue box and reached over and wiped Rai Rai's nose. The Mouse Pokémon snorted and adjusted his sleeping position. Henry wasn't sure how the raichu would do tonight. If Rai Rai starts goofing off, he might accidentally knock over and break something. The place he was going didn't have any fragile items or flimsy furniture. Everything was supposed to be built solid, says the Faraday Corp of Engineers Commission.
Henry looked up at the black sky and saw the city core sticking over the building line. The skyscrapers were beautiful. Modern buildings built ten to fifteen years ago out of the most advanced technology of the time. The triangular-skeleton rectangle buildings held office space for companies and federal agencies, while the cylindrical buildings grew agriculture. Several of the vertical farms were bright green, indicating they were ready for another harvest. Henry smiled, getting food on the table was a top priority. Like all Faradians he stocked his pantry with non-perishable canned goods. Food wasn't that expensive, as all food sold in Faraday City were grown in the vertical farms. On years with surpluses, Faradians clean out their pantries of food that have expired or were near expiration and donate whatever's edible to the Red Cross, where they were taken to not-so-fortunate places for hungry people. And like all Faradians, Henry kept his pantry full of more than a three weeks supply of food. If something were to happen to his hometown, he didn't want poor Rai Rai going hungry.
Henry eased off the petal and let the moving fan slow, then turned right. The place wasn't that far now. He reached up to Rai Rai and gave him a sharp poke in the belly. "Rai Rai," he said. "Wake up."
The raichu held up his head and yawned. "Raichu Rai?" he cooed.
"We're almost there, I'm going to need your help for this job tonight."
Rai Rai's eyes flutter open. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let him sleep, he needed Rai Rai alert enough to stay focus, and hopefully he would stay focus. Henry is going to deliver supplies to a government-funded establishment. He need all the help he could get.
Henry made a left, then kept on straight. He checked the building numbers and the signs. He didn't need to look hard, up ahead he could see a black and yellow sign mounted over a step-down doorway. Henry pulled up to the curb in front of it and stopped, then checked the building number. This was the place. He threw the van in park and killed the engine. "Alright, Rai Rai," said Henry. "We're here!"
As Rai Rai undid his seatbelt, Henry reached down and picked up two green hard hats. Emblazoned on the front and sides of the hats was the CERT logo, the Community Emergency Response Team. People like Henry volunteer to act as first responders in case of an emergency. Most of the time they would train and study, or do community service. But when called to action, CERT troops first make sure their relatives are safe before going out to help others. The last time CERT was ever called into action was during the sporadic muli-Pokémon battles that were occurring on Faraday City's available green space, not to mention the riots that followed soon after.
Henry took one of the hats and stuck it on Rai Rai's head, the raichu smiled and adjusted the hard hat. "Rai!"
Henry unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the van. He stretched his legs and brushed off his CERT uniform, then picked up the clipboard sitting in the driver side door's pocket. Rai Rai got down beside him and stretched his legs. Henry put on his hard hat, then checked the clipboard. "Okay, now what do we have here."
The clipboard had a list of objectives needed to be done before sunrise. It was vital that all the objectives were completed before 0700. Faraday Island's Federal Emergency Management Agency required that all government emergency centers in all the towns and cities on the island to be inspected at least once a week. The job isn't that bad. Henry get to go around Faraday City and observe all the shelters and other disaster management facilities. All the facilities had similar and identical equipment. Henry knew what to look for and what imperfections to find. It was just another routine job done hundreds of times, nothing difficult.
The first order of business was to unload the moving van's cargo and shelve them inside facility. Henry shut the van door and locked it, then approached entrance. The black and yellow sign was bolted to the brick wall at the corner of the step-down doorway. The sign was yellow, on it was a black circle with three upside-down yellow triangles. Underneath the top middle triangle was a smaller circle that tells the capacity of the facility. Below that was a black band that span the bottom half of the sign, and written in bright yellow bolded letters were two words that every Faradian is familiar with:
FALLOUT SHELTER
Technically they were officially called Emergency Shelters, but the term Fallout Shelter was commonly used. By law, all emergency public shelters must withstand the worst possible kind of hazard to human and Pokémon life: Radiation. Every neighborhood and community must, by law, have a public shelter that holds a minimum of one thousand individuals. Shelters built in the city core must hold a minimum of ten thousand. The total population of Faraday City is 700,000 residents. The number of public shelters built inside the city can hold at least a quarter of the population comfortably and a third at max capacity. Realizing this was not adequate enough, city engineers built smaller private emergency shelters in the basements of newer homes. These shelters were designed to hold a family of four comfortably and can hold eight at max capacity. Henry's own home wasn't old enough to have a pre-built shelter installed. Residents, however, were encourage to build them. These private shelters could hold another quarter of the population, which can help relieve the overflow at the public shelters. The remaining unsheltered population are expected to either shelter-in-place in a constructed makeshift shelter or leave the city altogether, which was good enough for FEMA.
Henry reached up and placed a hand on the fallout shelter sign. The metal sign was new, recently replaced. It was galvanized and painted, and felt cold to the touch. Henry turned and stepped down the fallout shelter's walkway, he got around about halfway before noticing Rai Rai wasn't following him. He looked back and saw Rai Rai sitting at the edge of the concrete stairs, his eyes were fearful.
"Are you coming, Rai Rai?" Henry asked.
Rai Rai stepped away. "Rai!"
Tesla caught him by leading him into a dropper trap. Rai Rai fell thirty meters down a derelict well. How did Tesla got him out was beyond Henry's imagination, but what was clear was the experience had traumatized him. Henry came back up and stopped when he was at eye-level with his raichu, then placed a hand on his shoulder. "There's nothing to be afraid of down there, Buddy. These fallout shelters are huge, they're built to be spacious. You're not going to get claustiphobic in there, I promise."
Rai Rai thought for a moment, then gave off a hesitated nod. "Rai."
Henry gently grabbed Rai Rai's stubby paw and led him down the stairs. When they reached the door, Henry let go and inspected the lock. There were two doors leading to the fallout shelter. The first door looked normal. It was made out of heavy-grade steel. The deadbolt engages retractable titanium pins from the door and latched themselves into the frame. The door is rated for a wind pressure of 350 KPM, which is roughly the same power as an EF5 tornado. Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out a key given to him by the shelter's owner days before. Though old fashioned, law requires that all emergency shelters are equipped with manual locks. That way anyone who needs to get in could pick the lock on the door and force their way inside. The shelter's doors only have keyholes for the deadbolts. Nobody will have the time to bust through two locks while an impending hazard is breathing down their backs.
Henry inserted the key and twisted it. He heard the titanium pins retract into the door. Henry twisted the door knob and pushed it open, revealing a pitch-black room. Henry reached to the side and flipped the light switch. The ceiling lights clicked on to reveal a thick concrete wall. The walls of the shelter were made out of 50cm of concrete, covered with 5cm steel plating. Quite expensive, but since Faraday Island had a lot of money on hand from exporting electronics the Faradian government was willing to provide a shelter built to last.
Which made Henry's job a lot more important.
Henry swung the door wide open and propped it open. The concrete wall was built between the first and second doors, its purpose was to halt the lethal gamma rays that made it through the exterior walls while providing blast resistance. Henry turned left and walked around the wall, then approached the second inner door. This door was the same as the last, nothing different. Henry inserted the key into the deadbolt, same as before. The pins retract and Henry opened up the second door. Before him was a large dark hallway as tall and wide as a high school hallway. Unlike the lights in the entrance, the lights in the emergency shelter were on its own circuit. Henry fished out his Maglite LED flashlight and clicked it on. The beam seemed to stretch forever into the darkness.
Rai Rai brushed against his leg. Mice Pokémon had excellent night-vision, but it is near useless against a pitch-black man-cave. There were no sources of ambient light in the fallout shelter save for Henry's flashlight, leaving Rai Rai literally in the dark. Henry reached down and scratched one of the raichu's ears. "We're going to turn on the power, once that's on we're free to explore the bunker as we like. But before that, we must get those boxes shelved. I need you to be strong for this one, we'll be here all night if we take too long."
"Raichu," muttered Rai Rai.
Henry crouched and held up Rai Rai's chin. "You're still reeling from what Tesla did, are you."
Rai Rai said nothing.
"I don't know what to tell you, I'm no psychologist. But what I do know is that it is not your fault for what happen. I don't know what Tesla did to you in those days, but he sure did apologized for what happened. Whatever he told you, I don't know, and maybe I do not wanna know. But one thing is for certain," Henry paused for a moment to think. "He was trying to survive, he had been harassed for years. We've pushed him too hard, and that was our mistake. Self-preservation is the name of the game. That was on the top of his mind while so many people have tried to capture him."
Henry pointed his MagLite at the doorway closest to them, it was labeled Generator Room in metal capitalized letters. He stood up and stepped into the room, Rai Rai followed behind, keeping as close to him as possible. Henry held the light up, revealing two Hydrogen fuel cells. The fuel cells were the size of a large refrigerator. Tubes and wires snaked around the sides and back. The pipework connecting two and from the fuel cells were labeled Oxygen and Hydrogen. Pipes snaking down from the ceiling and into the top of the fuel cells were labeled H20. Arrows next to the labels mark the directions where they're flowing. By law, complex machinery like this must be simplified. Even a child could operate a Faradian-designed fuel cell. Around the corner was a bio-diesel generator. The generator was designed with four simple components: The battery, the fuel tank, the motor, and the power switch. The exhaust is piped out the roof of the building above through a reinforced shaft. In case the building were to collapse, the shaft itself would remain standing and won't clog the pipe. The whole unit was painted black save for the fuel tank, which was painted yellow to symbolize its ability to hold diesel fuel. By law, the fuel tank must be empty at all times and only fueled for an emergency. Also by law, the generator must be tested now and then. Henry shined the light over at the breaker box and opened it up. The chart on the panel door said that the generator was last inspected a week ago and is in good working order.
Henry found the breaker that activates the fuel cells, he flipped it on. The monitors on the fuel cells went live. The boxy machines hummed a low tone, gases hissed through its intricate pipework, creating electricity. Henry flipped the main circuit breaker. The lights came on, piercing his night-vison.
He turned back to Rai Rai and found him rubbing his eyes, then looked up. "Rai?"
Henry said, "This fallout shelter is built for survival, Rai Rai. Many like this one are built all over the city. They're designed to not let this city die. We're here to maintain Faraday City's insurance policy, Rai Rai. So many people count on us to make sure these shelters work."
Rai Rai blinked, then managed a smile. "Rai Rai!"
Henry clicked off his flashlight and said, "Okay, let's get the truck unloaded and inspect everything."
TO BE CONTINUED…