Chapter 3
Current Situation

"So," Matthew said between bites of his burger, "has anyone been thinking about all this?"

Kiera had returned to the campsite with Eva and Lyrica to find the group setting up for dinner. Mara and Jeremy had picked up some meat from the meat cooler (which was no longer very cool, but the meat was still good, although it wouldn't be that way for much longer), along with a few other things. Then they'd brought over a charcoal grill (although they kept it outside the main campsite area) and proceeded to make and grill burgers. "We may not be able to bring a grill with us," Jeremy'd said, "but we can still use it while we're here."

Mara laughed. "Um, Matthew, it's kind of hard not to think about it." In this particular conversation with the two of them were Kiera, Eva, Abel, and Kate.

"We're kind of in the middle of it," Mara continued. "You try putting it out of your mind."

"I mean about why's it's happening."

"How are we supposed to know?" Abel said. "All we know is that it is happening."

"Actually," Mara said, "we may at least be able to make a few connections."

"Oh? Like what?"

"Try to think back to what the big story was before this happened."

"Norman's affair with one of his gym trainers," Matthew said. Simultaneously, Eva said, "Maylene coming out as a lesbian."

Mara laughed. "I mean the long-running big story. The important big story. The one that actually deserves to be called news."

Kiera knew where Mara was going; she'd had the same thought. But it was Eva who answered first. "Are you talking about the choice effect?"

Mara nodded. "I am."

"Wait," Matthew said, "you think that's related?"

"Um, what's the choice effect?" Kate asked.

Really? Kiera thought. Damn, did this woman come out of a novel? It's like her only purpose is to have us explain things. "It's been all over the news. Do you not follow the news at all?"

"I don't. It's all scandal, fear, and violence. I don't need that."

"Well, that's kind of an exaggeration, but I see your point. Okay, then. The 'choice effect'-" not a great name, if you ask me, "-is fairly recent; it's only been seen in the past couple months. It refers to the large increase in incidents of newly-caught Pokemon attacking their new trainers, or disobeying them, or running away, or that sort of thing. It's thought to be a result of Pokemon being more selective about who they'll accept as a trainer. The big question is why it only started recently; I, for one, was surprised that such a thing hadn't already happened."

"I see," Kate said.

"Anyways, Mara's saying that the choice effect is connected to the attacks and genocide we're seeing now. The same thought has occurred to me, although I'm not certain it's the right idea. Hell, I'm surprised the choice effect only happened this recently; I've always been surprised at how few Pokemon object to capture, and I've also been surprised at how few strike out against cruel or abusive trainers. But anyways, I'd say there probably isn't much of a connection."

"I'd say it's more likely than that," Mara said, "but either way, it's something to keep in mind."

"Agreed. Although I don't know hom much it matters to our situation. Whatever the reason for this is, we're stuck in the middle of it."

"Yeah," Matthew said. "Well, I'm still hungry, so I'm getting another burger."

"Go ahead," Mara said. "We made plenty. In fact, I think I'll grab another myself. All that running through the city worked up an appetite."

"Yeah," Kiera said, "you can work up an appetite. That's why we had you put so much food and water in your packs; you go through it quickly when you're hiking all day. Hell, I'm going to have a second myself, and I'm eating less that I usually do in the wild."

"Well, eat up," Mara said. "There's plenty to go around."


"All right," Kiera said, "here's the deal. The night watch will be a team of four. We'll go in shifts; when your shift is up, wake the next shift. Tonight's first shift will be Daniel, Brandon, Abel, and Nelson. The second shift will be Alicia, Jeremy, Tamara, and Semora. Third will be Seth, Kate, Michelle, and Louis. Shift four will be Liener, Serena, Darren, and Mara, and the last shift will be myself, Eva, Lyrica, and Matthew."

It was Serena who spoke next. "Um, I don't think anyone in my shift is a trainer. And aren't you, Eva, and Lyrica all trainers? Do all three of you really need to be on the same shift?"

"It may not always be possible to have a trainer leading every group, and if that happens, I want us to have had some practice. And look at your group; you may not be true trainers, but you're hardly helpless." And indeed, all four were among the group's bug catchers. "Besides, I'm not expecting any trouble tonight. And if there is, the first step is to wake everyone up. That goes for everyone; if something happens, wake everyone up. Okay? Good."


Once the bug catcher shift had gone back to sleep, Kiera got to her feet. "Okay, it's time."

"Time for what?" Matthew asked.

"Eva and I have something we need to do. Lyrica's in charge until we get back."

"Wait, what? You're just suddenly going off on your own?"

"Taking more would weaken this group unacceptably."

"And you didn't think you should tell us about this?"

"Another test run," Kiera said. "I want to know how everyone will react if they suddenly find me gone."

"Is that why you had the three of you on this shift?"

"That's one reason, although the one I gave everyone is also true."

"This is crazy. You know that, right?"

"Maybe, but it needs to be done. We can't stay here for too long. We'll be found eventually. But if we're going to leave, we need a destination. For that, we need to know which cities have and have not been attacked. Eva and I are going to try to make contact with the outside and obtain that information."

"Oh," Matthew said. "Well, I still don't agree with your methods here."

"Noted," Kiera said. "Come on, Eva. Let's go."


"This store," Eva said, "took a lot more damage than ours has."

Kiera and Eva were outside Goldenrod Electronics, a big electronics department store with a name that Kiera found amusing, seeing as how it had become a multi-regional chain. The entire front wall of the store was pretty much gone, and several sections of the roof had collapsed. The two of them made their way over the rubble and into the store. They moved through the store until, eventually, they found what they were looking for. "This is it," Kiera said.

"I'm kind of surprised a store like this has converters."

"Most chains wouldn't have something like this, but this chain's always made the effort to cater to trainers. That's why the portable electronics area is so large. But if you want to use something that's not battery-powered while you're out in the wild, well, you'll need some way to power it. Which is why the store carries these. Oh, and you could use it to recharge batteries, too, although Pokemon generally can't go for long enough to make that worth it." Kiera put the device in her bag. "Okay, let's go."

On the way out, Kiera spotted a metal pole among the debris at the front. This'll work, Kiera thought as she picked it up. Hmm… broke off of something, definitely. Not a clean break, either. Not really a problem. Although I may have Garchomp give it a clean break. Actually, yeah, I'll do that. It's a bit large anyways. She released Garchomp briefly, returning her after she cut the pole. I'll have to carry this for now. I'll rig up some straps for it once we get back, strap it to my bag. "All right, then," Kiera said. "Let's get moving."


Eva led Kiera into the radio tower. "Be careful," she said. "This isn't just collateral damage like the other buildings. They wrecked this pace deliberately. It's not in good-" A piece of the ceiling collapsed. "Well, that makes my point for me. The stairs should be in good shape, though."

And they were. The two of them checked each floor as they went up. It was on the fifth floor that they found what they needed. "I think this'll work," Eva said. "The radio itself is destroyed, but most of the other equipment is in good shape, and there should be something in storage that we can use. That's down in the basement, so come on."

"Why didn't we go down there first?" Kiera asked.

"Because I didn't know what all we'd need. Now I do."

"And you're sure you know what you're doing?"

"Hey, I may be a DJ, but I've been one long enough to pick up a lot. I've seen the techs do enough to pick up a good deal. I couldn't make major repairs, but I can certainly do what we need."

"Okay, then. Let's go get what we need."

"And… okay, ready," Eva said. "Let's plug it into the converter."

"Got it," Kiera said as she took the converter out of her pack. She handed it to Eva. "Here."

Eva plugged it in, then grabbed a Pokeball and released Ampharos. "Here, Ampharos, we need to put these on you. Kiera?"

Kiera attached the cords to Ampharos. "That should do it. Let's do a test run."

"Ampharos, give us a weak burst, okay?" Ampharos did so.

"We're good," Kiera said, looking at the converter's readouts. "Let's do this."

Eva picked up a chair from the floor, placing it in front of the equipment and sitting down. "Ampharos, keep it weak, but this time, keep going until I say to stop. Start." As Ampharos provided power, Eva went to work. "Okay, stop." She put a headset on, then turned to Kiera. "Ready." She handed Kiera a headset. "Here. You can do most of the talking. You won't get much time; in order to get enough power to send the strength of signal we need, Ampharos will need to go all-out, and I doubt she can keep that up for more than a couple minutes. We'll have to use an emergency-reserved frequency and hope there's an active automated emergency relay tower in range, since there's no other way to get as wide a range as we'll need; those relay stations are specially designed for ultra-long-distance transmission."

"I don't need the technical stuff," Kiera said. "That's your job. Let's get this done."

"Got it," Eva said. "Ampharos, I need you to go full-power for as long as you possibly can, okay? Go."

As the equipment began receiving power, Eva turned to Kiera. "Start talking. Just keep going until you get a response; I'll be trying differeny frequencies. Go."

Kiera put the headset on. "Hello? Hello? Can anyone hear this? Is anyone receiving this?"

"Keep going," Eva said.

Eventually, there was a response. "Hello?"

"Got someone!" Eva said.

"Do you read me?" Kiera said.

"Yes," the voice on the other end replied. "Who are you?"

"We've only got a short time, so please cooperate with me. We are a group of survivors in Goldenrod City. We're attempting to plan an escape, but we don't know which cities have and have not been hit. Please list the attacked cities."

"Okay," the man on the other end replied; no doubt assuming correctly that the radio was running on Pokemon power. "Pewter, Cerulean, Vermilion, Celadon, and Fuchsia were hit, along with Cinnabar. In Johto, aside from Goldenrod, it's Cianwood, Olivine, Ecruteak, and Blackthorne. Most of the small towns within those regions have also been hit, including the 'gym towns' of Azalea and Mahogany. Those two regions bore the brunt of the attack. In Sinnoh, only Hearthome and Jubilife were hit. In Hoenn, they hit Slateport and Mauville. They also attacked Lilycove, but we won that fight."

One victory? "Difference?"

"Luck. The local naval base was conducting full-scale war games off the coast. They detected an incoming aquatic force, and when attacked, they engaged and repelled the enemy. By the time they'd returned to shore, a land-based force was attacking, presumably as a planned coordinated strike. But on its own and without the element of surprise, that force was unable to take the city, although there were heavy casualties before they were driven out."

"I see. One of my people said he'd heard that Violet City had been attacked."

"Not yet."

I guess there was some miscommunication somewhere. Not surprising, really. "Violet's close. Thoughts on us heading there?"

"Not advised. Forces are massing around the city; they're likely to attack at any time. Too large a force for Violet's air forces to repel. Unlikely that aid could arrive in time. Violet's lost."

"Understood."

"Ampharos can't last much longer," Eva said.

"We're almost out of time," Kiera said. "Recommended course of action?"

"Unclear. Johto and Kanto seem to be the main focus at the moment; finding safety in either region is unlikely. Military forces are working on plans, but getting a sufficient force assembled will take some time, and then they have to get there."

"Survival for that long is unlikely."

"Agreed. I'm sorry, but I don't have any good ideas. Hiding out in the wilderness somewhere seems to be the best of a set of bad options, but I'll be honest. Your survival seems unlikely."

'Kiera," Eva said, "we're about to lose it."

Kiera nodded. "All right. We're out of power here. Thank you for the information. We'll have to figure out a plan of action. We may be in a bad situation, but we'll be doing everything we can to survive it. If possible, we may attempt contact again."

"Understood. Good luck."

"Thank you," Kiera said. "Eva, done."

"That's good, Ampharos," Eva said, and the Pokemon ceased it efforts, collapsing to the ground in exhaustion. She knelt down and disconnected the converter from Ampharos. "I'm sorry to have to work you so hard. You did great. Thank you," she concluded as she recalled Ampharos.

"Well," Kiera said as she and Eva removed the headsets, "things do not look good."

"At least we know," Eva said. "And if we do try this again, we should have more time to talk; I shouldn't need to do a frequency hunt next time."

Kiera unplugged the converter and returned it to her pack. "Well, we're done here," she said. "Come on, let's get back."


A group of four, led by Daniel, was outside when Kiera and Eva returned. "Good," Daniel said, "you're back."

"I hope nothing happened while I was gone," Kiera said.

"Well, Michelle threw another fit, but that's all."

"She's a spoiled bitch," Kate said. "I actually know her from before all this, although not very well-my cousin and her brother are married-and she's acting exactly as I'd expect."

"Will she be a problem?" Kiera asked.

"I'm not certain-I don't know her that well, remember-but I'd guess no. She'll whine and complain a lot, but you shouldn't have any real problems with her. Just make sure you stay firm, and don't give her any slack."

"I wasn't planning to" She turned to Daniel. "Anyways, I assume you're doing a perimeter sweep?"

Daniel nodded. "Lyrica's been having us do them, just like you."

"Well, go ahead and finish it. Come on, Eva, let's head in."


"We're back," Kiera said as she and Eva entered the campsite.

"Oh, you're back," Michelle said. "And why the hell did you just run off in the first place?"

"To get information. Eva and I went to the radio tower and made contact with someone on the outside."

"Oh? And is there some reason you decided not to tell us?"

"Oh, shut up," Lyrica said. "You don't give a shit about that. You're just pissed because I didn't let you break the rules. Maybe you should think about the fact that our goal is to survive, okay? Would you really prefer to die rather than have someone watching while you're on the toilet?"

"That's not going to happen."

"Irrelevant," Kiera said. "You said you'd do as I say."

"You weren't here."

"And I left Lyrica in charge. You told her that, right, Lyrica?" Lyrica nodded. "See? You knew I'd left her in charge."

"No. You never said anything about her. How was I supposed to know she was telling the truth?"

"Stop trying to justify yourself," Kiera said. "You know damn well you were going against me. This is your final warning: do not do it again."

"Or what, you'll abandon me? Condemn me to death? You don't have the guts."

Kiera walked up to Michelle, locking eyes with her. "You want to bet on that?" No reply. "That's what I thought. Right, then. Do not do it again."

Kiera walked over to Mara, who'd put a makeshift flame-heated stove together and was frying eggs. She took a serving, then sat down. Not what I needed, she thought as she began eating. Maybe Kate's right, and she won't cause any real problems, but something tells me I won't be that lucky. Damn, and this is already bad enough. What the hell's going to happen next?