Prologue:
November XXXX, LOCATION UNIDENTIFIED
'If they stand behind you, protect them. If they stand with you, respect they stand as your enemy, show them no mercy.' An odd mantra considering my job David pondered. We live in a world created by a singular all-powerful being, populated with monsters that could kill a human with a single blow and our response was to catch them, training them, battling them, raising them, studying them and in some cases keeping them as pets.
David let out a sigh as the whine of jet engines filled the troop bay of the dropship, the sound softened only by the sound of the wind rushing in from the open aft doors.
"Airman, how much further till we reach Oracle Station. I'm starting to get a little antsy back here." David groaned over his radio.
"Not much farther now sir," said a voice over the radio "We are flying over Rustboro City now, Eta to Oracle Station about 10 minutes."
Unfastening himself from one of the many seats in the troop bay David stood up and moved closer to the open aft door making sure he held the bulkhead tightly as he looking out over the large town as the flew overhead. He wasn't able to get a good look at the town, David was able to see a range of buildings from high-rises to the all too familiar sight of red and blue buildings no doubt to be the local Pokémon centre and mart. He could just make out the sight of people on the streets walking around some with Pokémon.
The view was gone faster that David could take it all in, replaced with dense bushland probably swarming with all species of Pokémon. A sudden shift shook the dropship causing him to stumble slightly if it wasn't for the fact that he was still holding onto the bulkhead David would have flown right out the rear door.
The sudden voice of the pilot came over the radio "Sorry for that Corporal, Flock of wingull just flew in our path. We didn't lose you back there did we?"
Forcing a chuckle David started walking to the cockpit door "It will take a lot more than that to get rid of me airman." He laughed as he entered.
David looked at the airman who flinched slightly at his presence. Shifting his view to the windscreen he saw his new home for his current deployment, Oracle Station. One of the smaller bases that David had seen, it more resembled a research facility rather than a League Specialized Response Team (SRT) outpost. There were 3 major buildings that caught his eye, two buildings resembling office buildings but the windows were darker than night. Both buildings were topped with air pad, with smaller aircraft landing and taking off . The last building was a dome-like structure which looked to be made up of hexagon panel, each panel had a golden hue to it.
"Better get your gear ready Corporal I won't be putting this bird on the ground." The voice of the pilot shaking David out of his thoughts.
"Right," David said, moving back into the troop bay.
After retrieving his duffel bags filled with everything he will need for his stint at the outpost, slinging one of the duffel bags over his right shoulder David moved towards the aft doors. Gone was the forest which had been replaced with the black metal finish of an air pad, upon which stood three people and two Pokémon. The three people seemed to be looking directly at him whilst the pokemon stared at the airship. The first was a white male clad in black combat armour, he had seedot coloured hair and pale gold eyes. The second was a tanned looking male dressed in a military uniform, he wore a green Patrol cap and was halfway through a cigar smoke escaping through the sides of his mouth. The last was a sandy coloured female, a researcher by the looks of it if the lab coat didn't already give it away. She had dark purple hair and teal eyes making her stand out the most of the three. The researcher was flanked on both sides by the Pokémon; both bipedal the first was red with accents of beige, yellow, and grey a slight chicken-like appearance confirming it as Blaziken a native to the Hoenn region. The second was a Pokémon that David had never seen before, more canine-like, with fur that is predominantly blue and black with a small round spike on each of its forepaws with a third on its chest.
As David disembarked the airship the group approached, sound of the jet engine firing up making it hard for him to hear much of anything.
"Corporal" came a booming voice from the first man, as the airship took off towards its next destination "It's good to have new blood grace us, welcome to Oracle Station. I'm Captain Samuel Wall..., " was all Samuel was able to get out before getting cut off by the young researcher.
"Hiiiii I'm Dr Joyce Mercy." Rushed the researcher, looking at David enthusiastically "OH MY ARCEUS, It's so good to get a new face out here I look forward to seeing what you bring to the table Mr Ummm..." she squealed in excitement as she bounded up to David with an outstretched hand.
"Lance Corporal David Kanter ma'am," replied David returned with his own hand as she grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously. David recoiled slightly with the pure pressure that she was outputting.
"Come on Joyce no need to rip his arm off on his first day here." Chuckled the second man as he put out his cigar and stowing it for later. "Colonel Flint Lockhart." it was his turn to shake Davids' hand, It was a strong and formal one giving David an idea on what Colonel Flint was like. "Just call me Flint and follow my orders to the letter and we'll get along just fine recruit," He said in a gruff voice, nodding his head at David.
Davids view returned to Samuel, who was glaring at Dr Joyce. Joyce let out a small squeak before Samuel spoke up again moving in for a handshake of his own. "Well as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I am Captain Samuel Wallander," Samuel said shaking Davids' hand, the handshake was similar to flints but colder due to the armour plates on his hands.
A small growl came from behind the group from the two pokemon catching David slightly off-guard.
"Ahhhh where are my manners," Joyce exclaimed following David's gaze. "Allow me to introduce you to Talon the Blaziken and Fang the Lucario" Talon and Fang nodded at David, a gesture that he returned.
"I-It's nice to meet you both." David stuttered slightly, "Wait, a Lucario, so that's what he is. I've never seen one before, I was under the impression that they could only be found in the Sinnoh region."
Joyce smiled "Lucario can be found in many different regions however my one is from Sinnoh, it was his birthplace as is mine."
A small cough came from Samuel, making Davids' focus return to him. "Well Corporal, we have plenty more introductions to do so I think I'll show you where you will be staying while you are here."
"Well I'll leave the tour to you then Samuel, I have a very long day ahead of me. If you wish to speak to me soldier, Samuel here will be able to give you the directions to my office." Huffed Flint as he started on his way to one of the exits of the air pad.
Whilst David watched him leave a purple blur jumped next to David, "I'm sadly in the same boat and I would have loved to give you the tour myself, but I have a number of people and Pokémon to look after so sorry." Joyce frowned mockingly, before starting to walk away tailed by her Pokémon. "Oh yeah. Come visit me in the lab after you get situated, I need to give you a physical." She said giving David a wink, before continuing walking towards the large exit of the air pad.
"Well… I think she likes you." Samuel chuckled before turning to face David, "All right let's get a move on we are burning daylight." With that said, Samuel turned and started to walk towards the air pad exit. "I'm glad to have you on the team David, reading over your file I'm surprised you hadn't been snapped up by the other fireteams already. Trained to mastery of hand to hand combat, long range, close quarters and to top off the list medically trained to support human as well as Pokémon." Samuel turns to David with a smirk. "Seriously is there anything you can't do?"
"You picked me, sir? I wasn't aware of that." A hint of surprise in David's voice as they entered an elevator.
"Yes, I did. I'll say this now though, there will be no solo missions for you here. You are now part of a team." Samuel said eyeing David looking for his reaction.
"Sir, yes sir" David nodded.
"Good to hear" Samuel stated, exiting the elevator. The duo started moving through a maze of hallways.
"Now." Samuel paused walking up to a door and tapping away at a small transmitter that was on his wrist. "You were given a Pokedex before you arrived correct?" David nodded, "Good, permissions should have gone through. The Pokedex will be your main passport for this base, it is your personal Pokedex, ID, access card and Room Key so don't lose it or the requisitions department will have your head."
David pulled the little red device out of his pocket and looked at it. "That device will give you access to most if not all areas of Oracle Station, all you need to do is tap it near the terminal next to any of the doors and it will let you in if you have the clearance that is." Samuel taped his wrist-mounted device to a small terminal at the side of the door and immediately the door slid open. "there are three main buildings to Oracle the one we are currently in is the barracks, this will be your bunk."
"We get a room to ourselves, sir?" David sounding surprised, normally bunks were mixed in together not leaving much privacy. All through basic training, he was housed in bays, having to share both living space and showers.
Walking into the room David was shocked to see the size of his new living quarters. On the left side of the room was a bed and nightstand with a small holographic alarm clock, further down was a small grey couch. in front of the couch was a small wood framed coffee table with a smoked glass centre. To the right side of the room was a medium flat screen tv next to a small desk with a computer on it, closer to the door was a large wardrobe and a small cubby next to the door for what David guessed was to put his boots. The room also came with its own en-suite bathroom, which contained all the essentials such as a shower, toilet and sink.
"More than you're used to huh?" Samuel chuckled, "What you will be doing here at Oracle will be fairly stressful David, all members of SRT have similar rooms. It's a place to relax after a stressful day at work, in any case, we're here to just drop off your stuff you can get settled later."
David dropped the duffle bags on his new bed and walked to the door, still in shock at the size of the room that he will call his home for the duration of his deployment.
"Oracle Station consists of 3 major sections the first is the Barracks where we currently are." stated Samuel, " The second is deployment, it's the building adjacent to this one. It's where we go for briefing, getting supplied and setting out on assignment. It is also there that you will find Colonel Flints office." Samuel turned his head to David.
"The third and final section is the medical and research centre, it's the large golden dome. If you or a pokemon are hurt you go to the research centre they will fix anything wrong, it is also the lair of Dr Joyce Mercy." As both exited a hall David found they had just entered a large room filled with a few sofas, a few tables, a pingpong table and a pool table. There were a few people around some even being accompanied by pokemon.
"This is our recreation room, as I said before our line of work tends to be stressful and this place is by far the best place to come relax and meet new people." just as Samuel said that a woman with short blue hair jumped over one of the couches and made a beeline straight for the two of them.
"So this the new guy?" she asked, eyeing David up and down like a piece of meat. "I thought you would be taller." a small black pokemon trailed her, it had a sleek black body with four slender legs. David immediately identified it as an Umbreon but there was something different about it, the markings on its body were blue not the golden yellow they were known for and its eyes instead of being a dark crimson shone a beautiful gold.
"Ah Lucy I didn't know you were here, I thought you would still be at the training ground." Samuel scratched his head, "David this is First Lieutenant Lucy is my second in command and this is her Umbreon Midnight."
"Lance Corporal David Kanter, Nice to meet you both" he outstretched his hand which she gladly met with a firm handshake.
"Likewise." she smiled.
"Umbre-Umbreon." the little black pokemon cried happily.
Davids attention drew to Midnight" I thought Umbreon's eyes were red with gold markings."
"Umbre Um-bre breon." Smiled at David, who was looking between Lucy and Midnight with a confused look on his face.
"She just said that she is what is known as a shiny pokemon, I take it you haven't gone for implantation yet have you." sighed Lucy.
"Implanted ma'am?" with a look of even more confusion David turned to Samuel in hope for an explanation.
"Ah, that probably what Doc wants you for." Samuel started scratching his head, "Yeah all members of Shadow Squad have been outfitted with a device that allows us to understand pokespeech. Think those pokemon translator devices that you can strap to your ear except this one is tiny and is implanted into your brain."
"Wait you mean that Doctor Joyce wants to crack open my skull and stick something in my brain just so I can understand what a pokemon says." David flinched, with fear in his voice and an image of Dr Joyce laughing like a mad scientist in his mind.
"Relax would ya," Lucy smiled whilst letting out a giggle. "The process is quick and quite painless, you might get a slight headache from it for a day or two but it's nothing an Oran berry and a glass of milk won't fix. In our line of work, being able to understand pokemon is crucial ."
David rolled his eyes. "There it is again, our line of work. May I enquire, in what line of duty I have been assigned to. The only information that I received before arriving here from Apex base was that I was being sent to Oracle Station, and that I would be briefed on my duties on arrival."
Lucy and Samuel looked at each other before Samuel turned back to face David.
"As you already know I chose you. With all your qualifications I believed you to be the best candidate to fill in the final spot in Shadow Squad. It is our job like many fireteams, to capture facilities of illegal gangs and organisations. These gangs or organisations normally are ones famed for stealing pokemon from trainers, it is our job to capture these facilities and recover the pokemon." Samuel stated, his hand moving to his chin. "The pokemon are then transported here to Oracle before being processed. Stolen pokemon are returned to the trainers that initially caught them and pokemon caught by gangs or organisations will be rehabilitated and released into the wild."
"I see..." David said bluntly, slowly processing the information. "Well then … Glad to be onboard then sir."
"Glad to hear that." Lucy and Samuel said in unison, turning to look at each other.
"Umbre." Midnight purred happily rubbing against Davids' leg, as he bent down and scratched her behind her ear as she continued to purr.
"She said that she is happy to have you on board." Lucy smiled looking at David and how Midnight reacted to his touch.
"Is she on the team as well?" he asked continuing to scratch Midnight as the glow from her blue rings started to grow brighter.
"No, our team consists of Human personnel only," said Lucy nonchalantly. "I've had Midnight since I was a little girl, I had to get permission to allow her to stay here with me. A little bit of paperwork never killed anybody before, and it is worth it to have a friend like her around. Another plus is, she is able to assist with pokemon rehabilitation so it's a win-win."
"Do you have any pokemon, David?" Samuel asked, beginning to notice how Umbreon seemed to be in bliss at his touch. "Coz you really know how to treat a pokemon."
David froze at Samuels question and ceased petting Midnight, the pokemon pouting looking back at David hoping he would continue. "No… my parents had a Poochyena when I was smaller.I would normally play with and pet him the same way. I was also taught how to interact with pokemon during my pokemon medical training." He chuckled nervously, hoping he wasn't coming across as weird.
"Haha, well I think it shows your ability with pokemon, Midnight is a little bit fussy and normally take a while to warm up to new people." Lucy grinned, "Welp we should let you both continue with the tour, Oh and David if you need anything, my room is 214 it's on the third floor."
As David waved to the departing duo, he couldn't help but notice the Umbreon talking to Lucy with a blush on her face. 'huh, maybe midnight is shyer than I thought.' he thought. A small tap from Samuel, however, brought David back to reality.
As they continued on with the tour, Samuel was able to show David all the facilities offered at Oracle Station. The base was like nothing David had ever seen before. The tour took them both to the mess hall, shooting range and training area all seemed normal for a military base but then out of the blue a came a fifty-metre pool. The tour ended as they both made their way back to the recreation room, David was still processing everything that he was just shown.
"Well, I think it's time I left you to your own devices now, If you have any more issues, don't hesitate to ask around."Samuel gave David one last handshake before turning to leave, " Ah before I forget, you will be fully incorporated into shadow squad after the augmentation procedure so I ask you get it done tomorrow so we can add you to the roster. Good luck corporal, and again welcome to Oracle Station."
With that David was left alone in the mostly silent rec room, 'Sooo what to do now, little late to go and see Dr Joyce.' he pondered as he looked at his watch. 'ten o'clock might be a good idea to sort out my room then.'
David moved out of the room heading in the direction of the elevator. After twenty minutes of trying to gather his bearings , David finally reached the door of his bunk. Stepping inside, David took off his boots and placed them in the small cubby. Next was unpacking his bags, David put away all of the clothes in his new wardrobe before finally collapsing onto the bed.
'Well, I definitely think this place will be interesting' he thought slowly drifting asleep.