Chapter 5: Orientation Day
Case was heavily considering getting a feeding-tube after the fifth night she woke-up with acid in the back of her throat. She stacked her schedule with more training to prepare for Mercy's new position and between that and tournaments, she could only squeeze in about six hours of sleep a night. But she wasn't even getting that; she woke-up way before her alarm to vomit half the time since her stomach decided it was time to kill her finally.
If only it was successful.
This morning was particularly vile, and she couldn't stop coughing, nor get the taste of sour milk and pennies out of her mouth. She gave up on sleep, sat-up, and felt a familiar weight plop on her thighs.
Anklebiter, her zweilous, cooed in a low rumble as both his heads reached over the bed and rested in her lap. She scratched the closest one. "Thanks, Anklebiter."
Anklebiter was the best cure to a bad day in her opinion. He earned his nickname after he chomped her mom's ankle when she pulled Case's hair and he wore it like a badge of honor. And he just loved to chew on things in general, but Case was happy to direct that energy into chew toys, tug-of-war matches, and school bullies who deserved it.
On cue, he nibbled Case's forearm, but was careful to not break the skin. She dubbed them his 'love bites' as that was his way of showing affection.
Case flipped on her left side and laid back down after the burning in her gut died a bit and gave Anklebiter a full round of rough scratches for both heads. He leaned into it and stuck the tip of his tongue out. "Sorry I haven't been home much; work is just crammed right now. I owe you one of those iron cables once I get my next paycheck." She really felt bad about leaving him in her tiny apartment all day, even though the stadium in Castelia was huge and flashy, the apartments they put under it for the athletes were far from it. It was basically a glorified closet with enough room to cram a bed, kitchenette, bathroom, and a TV into and her bed already touched two walls.
She checked the time. The clock read 4:17 am. Case could still feel her stomach threatening to come up her throat and decided sleep just wasn't happening again. Better to use the time to train instead of wasting it. Case jumped out of bed, threw on her joggers and a sweatshirt, brushed the nasty taste out of her mouth, and put her hair into a top-knot.
Anklebiter whined and nipped at her calves while she was washing her face. "Its ok, I'll be back tonight."
He butted his head, which nearly took her out knee considering how big he was and nodded over to her empty bed. Case reached down and scratched his head. "I know, I know, but I just can't sleep! It's my fault anyways, all that beer and whiskey before bed ain't helping." It probably was the cause but cutting that meant trading one pain for another.
Anklebiter flopped in the doorway and blocked her path.
Case may have had a 400 lbs squat, but Anklebiter's ass was bigger, and her legs gave before she could shove him out of the way. "Damn you're stubborn." She growled. She gave up and crawled over him. He looked back and hissed.
"Don't 'hiss' me, I've got a long day. And hey, it'll be over sooner if I start my workout now instead of 6:00 am. I'll sleep then, deal?"
Anklebiter set his heads down in defeat. Case gave him one more goodbye pet before grabbing her bag and heading down to the gym.
The stadium gym was probably the sweetest deal for living there. It had full rows of squat racks, benches, actual deadlift platforms, and a wide collection of chains and bands for her miscellaneous workouts. Attached were all sort of amenities for Pokémon training. Auxiliary gyms with tracks and battlefields, a full pool, high ceilings with rope-courses for flying types and climbing training; Case could go on. It was a trainer's paradise. Nothing was ever full either, especially at 4:00 am. Reyna and Jade didn't start until six and Reyce never made it before 8:00 am. Case would train at four regularly if it didn't end before eight for that reason.
Case started with her own workout; she had to keep herself strong for MMA, and then grabbed Infernape's ball from her locker. She migrated to the boxing ring and strapped on a heavy set of fire-proof pads to get Infernape warmed-up. She trained her Infernape to fight with the same boxing style she used in MMA and with his speed, ferocity, and fire, Infernape was dangerous in the ring.
Case gave a lot of special attention to him. He was one of the only Pokémon she used that wasn't just given to her fully-evolved and bred for professional battles and easily her best as his natural strengths and disposition matched perfectly with her fighting-style. Fire was all about drive and power, which is why Case took to it like a duck to water, earning her own Litten and Chimchar when Mercy took her at sixteen. She spent a good amount of time with Kabu, learning the ins and outs of handling such a dangerous element. At the same time, she stacked her schedule with martial arts classes and achieved a dual mastery in fire and fighting type handling. So what if she didn't get her high school diploma? This was way cooler, and she sucked at school anyways.
The rest of her team was an ever-rotating pot of rentals. They were born and raised to fight, and while they were objectively better than the Pokémon trainers caught in the wild, Case felt her passion die a bit everytime to she used one. It just felt unexplainably hollow.
It didn't help that the sports league pushed for rentals. They made her retire Incineroar last year, which she wanted to strangle all the bureaucrats individually for. Her current line-up had Emboar, Magmortar, Darmanitan, Conkeldurr, and Hitmonchan, all of which would probably rotate out within a year unless they pulled enough ratings to make the execs happy.
Now, what Case really wanted was to compete with Anklebiter. However, dragons were restricted into the ground after too many trainers lost control of theirs and people lost arms.
Still, Case felt a childish wish to own a fully-evolved dragon like the ones from all her old posters as a kid.
Case released Infernape and he shook his body like a mightyena and yawned. He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Yeah, I know it's early, do you think I want to be up at this hour?" Case said.
Infernape used his hands to sign, "I'm exhausted. Last match went until midnight."
"You act like I wasn't literally behind you." She put the headgear on and leapt over the ropes into the ring. Infernape followed, dragging his feet along the way. He put up his fists and Case braced herself for his warm-up routine.
Case's abs were basically steel after withstanding Infernape's close-combat. Even through the thick pads, she could feel the percussion on her ribs. Between that and her benching, she was going to be so sore tomorrow.
Infernape wound-up for a solid mach punch just as someone said, "Morning!"
Case turned and Infernape's fist clocked her right in the cheek, knocking her into the ropes.
Reyce dropped her coffee and ran over. Case pushed her hand away and stood up, rubbing the new shiny burn from Infernape's high body temperature.
"Holy shit, are you ok?" Reyce said. Case felt her cheeks heat-up and it definitely wasn't the burn.
"Not my first punch to the face. Or my last." Case shot a dirty look at Infernape who just shrugged and signed, "Weak."
Reyce set her hands on Case's shoulders. "You should still probably sit down; you might have a concussion."
"I can take a punch." Case grumbled.
"Please?" Reyce pleaded with her big puppy eyes.
Case relented and undid the chest guard and headgear. She left the forearm and leg padding on, fully intending to step back in after a quick breather. Infernape snorted and leapt over the side to continue with the punching bag in the corner.
"It's not even six and you're already training Infernape? What happened to your workout? And sleep?" Reyce asked. They'd both sat down against the wall. Reyce had her bedhead controlled with a ponytail and baseball cap and was already dressed in sweats early in the morning.
"My stomach sucks, and I couldn't sleep. Figured I might as well do something useful with my time." Case said shortly.
Reyce frowned and handed her a water bottle. "It might be because of the whiskey you've had lately. Or stress, stress can totally make that worse, maybe you should cut down the training? Have you tried sleeping on your left?"
"You're not my doctor." Case took a swig form the bottle and capped it. Reyce was totally right about everything, but the last thing she needed was someone telling her to 'take it easy'. "I've got a lot to prepare for, I can't fuck things up for Mercy on the first job."
"Sorry, you've just been kinda distant since the whole job thing. I get it though, it's a lot." Reyce drew up her knees and rested her chin on them.
Case leaned back. She felt pretty bad about it, but Mercy's comment about distractions really got to her. She felt a pang of guilt every text she sent to Reyce these past few days. Finally, she said, "Yeah, that's it."
Reyce didn't buy that. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Reyce was so sweet, and it caused Case so much grief. On one hand, she knew she needed to keep her focus on the job, keep all her emotions in check and out of the picture, and not make others worry and drag down the team with her health issues and mental wellbeing. On the other hand, she did want to spill every bad thing in her life to this girl and get a hug, but that was silly to Case.
Case just finished the water bottle and asked, "Why are you up so early?"
Reyce pursed her lips. "The meeting at eight? You told us last night."
"Oh yeah that." Case vaguely remembered drunkenly sending out that reminder, probably with horrible spelling (not that she was any better sober).
"You're such a dumbass. Wanna train together?" Reyce offered.
Case crushed the water bottle. "I would love that."
"Just let me know if you feel dizzy or get a headache, ok?"
"Fine."
Reyce pit Samurott up against Infernape to force Case into a disadvantage immediately, exactly the kind of challenge she loved. Samurott was to Reyce as Anklebiter and Infernape were to Case, being one of her only Pokémon she could sneak past league execs. He was a lazy, kind of chunky, blue monster who loved nothing more than napping and food and Reyce was happy to feed that. Samurott, in turn, fought like a demon for her. It was Reyce's special training method and she used cheap pizza to bribe Case into taking breaks or sleeping more times than she'd like to admit.
Infernape hopped between floating platforms, searching for Samurott in the pool, but his blue fur made that especially difficult.
Suddenly, Samurott breached the surface with aqua jet right under Infernape, forcing him to dig his nails into the platform to stay afloat. The water hissed and evaporated as it hit his flame.
"Try using the momentum of the attack to get away, less damage means more time on the field!" Reyce said. Infernape struggled his way back on the platform as Samurott rounded the corner and charged for another attack.
"I get that, I just don't fucking think like that, alright?" She snapped. It felt impossible to fight her instincts to stand her ground. It worked really well on the ground but sucked when there wasn't ground to stand on.
Samurott's aqua jet struck again and Infernape found himself caught in the current, the platform almost completely vertical at the apex of the attack. Case knew she needed to do something in that moment, but totally blanked on the spot.
"Fuck." She whispered as Infernape was doused in another super-effective attack.
"One more time, just breathe and feel the momentum!" Reyce said in a calm voice.
Case begrudgingly took her advice. Samurott swung back around for the 70th time, its powerful tail driving a high velocity water missile right at Infernape. Infernape shot Case a scorching look.
She took a deep breath. The aqua jet struck, and the platform lifted, pushing outwards.
There.
"Jump, now!" She shouted. Infernape sprung off the surface, did a full flip, and still had enough energy to land some 20 ft away, well out-of-range of Samurott. Excitement replaced her frustration and Case beamed at Infernape.
"That's it!" Reyce cheered. Samurott stopped and howled with her, though it was way louder.
Lessons with Reyce always made Case's whole day better. Reyce had the worst win-rate out of the four, always got raked through the coals on social media, and Reyna nicknamed her 'Slaking' but Case would fight anyone who claimed she was bad trainer. She came from a long line of sword-specialists in Undella who literally created their own style of fighting with dual swords and type of swords dance; Reyce had knowledge almost no other trainer had. Case had never actually seen Reyce swing a sword, but her Samurott was a machine with razor-shells and the rest of her team followed with their own claws and blades. Her Golisopod and Bisharp were vicious attackers and her Lucario and Kingler were methodical and smooth in their form; Case could watch them fight all day. Well, she could watch Reyce in general all day, but that she would never admit that out loud. If dragons weren't so scarce, Case would love to see what Reyce could do with a haxorus.
"It's almost 7:30 am, you two should be getting ready for the meeting!" Said an obnoxious bitch Case wanted to punch. Reyna stood at the entrance with her hand on her hip. She strode over to Case and Case gave her best death glare.
Reyna shoved a phone in her face. "You said it yourself, 8:00 am meeting, correct? And nice spelling by the way."
The message read, "Maetin g witb nercy at 8!m, eest wihng 111."
Case's face burned. That was bad, even for her normally dyslexic spelling mistakes. Ten shots really didn't help her coordination. She looked Reyna in the eye. "Hey, I put the 'sexy' in dyslexia."
Reyna knit her eyebrows. "I don't…I don't think dyslexia has that word in it."
"Wait hold on." Case pulled out her phone and looked it up. Reyce jogged over to them.
"Sorry, we got carried away. Is this a formal thing or…?" Reyce asked tugging at her grey sweatpants.
"No, you're safe this time, apparently we're supposed to receive uniforms anyways." She looked up and down at Case. "I hope they fit you."
"Yeah my huge biceps make that kinda difficult."
"You might be able to share with your Infernape." Reyna said. She turned to Reyce. "Have either of you seen Jade? He mentioned talking to Mercy before the meeting, but he's been gone almost two hours."
"No idea." Case said. She always just assumed he was with her.
"Wouldn't expect you to know." Reyna muttered.
"No one knows, ok?" Reyce said. She put a hand on both their shoulders. Case wanted to rip it off Reyna's.
"Well, he better find his way back because we're starting in less than thirty minutes. He's almost as late as you are." Reyne said to Reyce.
Reyce just laughed. "Yeah, if I don't stare at a clock, time just disappears on me."
"And we've all suffered for it." Reyna turned and made for the exit of the pool area and waved them along. Case realized the front of her joggers were soaked with pool water and they wouldn't have time to change. Then, she felt Reyce's hand on her back.
"Hey, I know she's kind of a dick you, but were gonna be working a lot more closely soon. I just really don't want to be caught in between you two, ok?" She whispered.
Case felt her stomach twist. "Well then just stay out of it, ok?"
Reyce looked away. Case immediately regretted her words. "I know, but sometimes it's a little unavoidable and it stresses me out a lot. Its ok to hate her all you want, but I just don't want it to affect everything else." She said calmly.
Case was quiet for a moment while she battled with herself. She settled on a middling response. "I'll try."
Reyce squeezed Case's shoulder. "Thank you."
Case felt her nerves coil as they approached the board room. When the three of them arrived, Mercy, Jade, and a blond man in slacks and a clean-pressed dress shirt with glasses were already there. Jade had his eyes glued to his phone with a tight, pale expression while Mercy and the stranger gave them a pleasant smile as they entered. Case took a seat and then Reyna plopped herself right in between her and Reyce, but before Case had time to argue, the stranger spoke.
"My name is Colress and I'll be filling you four in on the details today. You might've heard of me through Ms. Whitlock, but if you haven't, I'm her lead researcher in both the genetics and power labs for Vesper Inc. I've earned my PhD as well as a master's in electrical engineering and have worked with Mercy for quite some time. She's been kind enough to give me the funds and freedom to do as I see fit." Then, his expression darkened. "Unfortunately, others don't see my work that way and we've experienced some…difficulties at a few of our remote locations. Before we get into the details, I need all of you to turn-off and remove your phones, watches, and any other devices capable of an internet connection or wireless communication."
The four athletes looked at each other. They knew this 'job' involved a lot more serious work, but they didn't grasp the level of it. They complied and Case slapped her phone and watch in the tray Colress passed around. Then, he said, "Stand and turn out all pockets and remove your sweatshirts."
"Really?" Reyna said, reading Case's mind.
Mercy spoke for the first time. "We won't be taking any half measures in this; I need all of you to take this work seriously."
Case complied and took off her sweatshirt and threw the contents of her pockets out on the table. Colress also pulled Reyce's hat off and had them put their arms over their head.
"Are we being arrested?" Case griped.
Colress just chuckled. "I know this is uncomfortable, but you'll have it all back soon enough."
Colress patted each of them down, then returned to the front. "Go ahead and replace your clothing, we'll be passing the NDA agreement out in a moment."
Reyna eyed Case as if to say, "Did you know about this?"
Case just shook her head. The only thing she knew was that the job involved real combat and that she was leading it somehow, and the latter fact filled her stomach with lead.
Case learned that NDA meant 'Non-disclosure Agreement'. She took a while longer to read than everyone else, but the message was pretty clear: Tell anyone and there will be consequences.
Reyna finally spoke. "Hold on, we're athletes, what this is, I don't think we're really prepared for it. We've been given no big warning, no real combat training, and almost no info and you just want us to go along with it?"
Mercy acknowledged her with a nod, then turned to Case. "Casey, do you feel incapable or unprepared to handle the job I need you to do?"
Case swallowed, looked to Reyna, then looked at the floor. "No."
Mercy turned back to Reyna. "Your coworker does not feel the same it seems. I also don't expect you to be perfectly ready to handle everything, that can be taught afterwards. All I'm looking for is your help for my generosity."
"It's still a huge leap from competitive battling. You said it would involve real combat. I didn't come to Unova to be one of their soldiers, I came to battle." Reyna argued.
Mercy looked her in the eyes. "I know you didn't, but I sought you out in Po town because I believed you had incredible skill and deserved more than what Alola had to offer. Those tiny islands are too small for you. I believed you were perfect for the job I'm about to give you. Do you not trust my judgment? Or your own skill?"
Reyna chewed her lip but kept eye contact with Mercy. Finally, she relented. "I do trust you, ma'am."
"I'm glad you do." Mercy then addressed the room. "I chose all of you personally and invested my money into your lives because I saw potential. I've had private discussions with each of you on the matter in hopes that we can come to an understanding. I understand this is a big change and you'll be losing some of your comforts, but the work we'll be discussing after you sign is imperative to build a better future for Unova, so I hope you'll understand and put Unova over your desires."
And with that, they all signed and turned in their papers. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife.
The projector hummed and lowered a screen and they turned off the lights. After a quick load, the projector displayed a Pokémon, but it looked so mechanical it was almost alien. It was purple with large red bug-like eyes, sharp metal appendages, and if Case wasn't mistaken, a cannon on its back.
"This is the subject of Project 'Genesect'," Colress began, "a project meant to increase security and firepower in Unova's law enforcement. Each unit, hereby referred to as 'Genesect' is a resurrected fossil Pokémon who has been improved by modern technology. By adding our own engineered technology to an existing Pokémon, we've created something with the benefits of Pokémon energy and recovery and the adaptability and strength of modern machinery. It is programmed to obey all commands given by the ball-holder and pre-programmed via a series of discs with the battle experience of the original, removing the need for training or the fear of losing control."
Case felt increasingly uncomfortable looking at that thing. "Programmed to obey all commands" felt so…wrong, was it even a Pokémon at that point? Can it think? Can I form a bond with its trainer?
Then again, Mercy wouldn't actually treat a Pokémon that way, she helped each of them get their own Pokémon past the league to begin with. Genesect must just be a robot made to look like a Pokémon. Still, looking at its very real face coated Case's stomach with ice.
Colress changed slides to a series of schematics and continued talking. "The second project is a means of efficiently extracting power from Pokémon without killing them in the process. World leaders in both Galar and Unova have decided that we need to invest in alternate energy sources and relinquish our dependence on coal and oil; otherwise, we risk an energy crisis in the distant future. The time to act is now, however. This power extraction method has no name yet because we haven't settled on a final method, but the machine in theory will absorb and amplify what can be generated by a Pokémon and be able to direct that energy into anything."
Case frowned. "Wait, so what does any of this have to do with us? We ain't scientists, chief."
Reyna elbowed Case in the side, but Colress just smiled. "Because we aren't the only ones who want this technology. Just yesterday, one of our Castelia labs experienced a break-in and the two criminals, who are still unknown, stole a Genesect and likely intend to recreate it for themselves before we've had a chance to secure the programing and design from hackers. Genesect is ultimately a weapon, and thus capable of great good and great evil. If it falls to the wrong hands, we risk the safety of our citizens and our projects. Not to mention, there are others who want us to stop both projects and believe Genesect is too dangerous to exist, though the project is intended as security for the world, not for war. Your job is to eliminate the threat."
Reyce finally piped up. "Eliminate? We can't kill anyone." She said softly.
"I'm not asking you to kill anyone." Mercy said. "Simply use whatever means necessary to ensure the safety of our work. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and if a few decide to deny millions their security, then a choice needs to be made. What that involves is up to your discretion."
The room was silent as they processed the whole job. They weren't security guards; they were hunters, and the targets were…human. Case didn't know what to make of it. On one hand, Mercy was right; a small amount of violence to secure a greater future was a net-positive. Mercy also gave so much to Case that it felt wrong to not back her project, even if the idea made her uncomfortable. But they could always capture; sleep powder, bind, and blood-chokes existed; death wasn't guaranteed.
Case still felt a cold ball of ice rolling in her stomach. Unlike her coworkers, she's watched someone a put a bullet between another's eyes. That moment still claws its way up through her consciousness at night.
Mercy looked at Case and Case was afraid to meet her eyes. In that moment, her eyes looked so cold, but her face was still that of the only 'mother' she ever had. Mercy smiled at her, then faced the room and stated, "I've elected Casey Cattral to lead your group. My orders will go to Case, and you will answer to Case."
"No!" Reyna stood up. "You can't be serious, Case has the worst behavioral track record in the whole league, you can't tell me she'll be taking a leadership role. What happens if she loses her temper on a mission? What do you want me to do? Case is a liability, we need a leader who can keep her emotions out of their work, not her." She pointed at Case.
Case shot up. "Quit talking to me like I'm a child, I have a lot more battle experience and actual combat experience than any of you in this room. A battling league doesn't matter, that's just a sport. You really think I'll lose my damn mind when there's actual lives on the line? I'm not that fucking stupid!"
"Reyna, I've known Case since she was a child and she's been here longer than any of you. I wouldn't just trust this job with anyone; I trust Case with the position because I know her well enough to be confident she'll handle everything according to my plan." Mercy said, flatly.
Reyna wrung her hands. "She has a track record for fights and rules violations. There is literal proof that she can't handle herself professionally. What part of that don't you understand?"
"I can handle myself on a battlefield. What proof do you have of your own experience in a real fight, Reyna?" Case snapped back. A hot-knot of anger was threatening to burst from her chest, but she did her damndest to hold her tongue from the worst insults and stick to a genuine argument.
Finally, Reyce stood up. "Reyna, please just give her a chance. Case isn't going to be making all the decisions anyways, we will have a say in what goes on, right?" She looked to Case and Case swallowed.
"Right." Case said. "I doubt I can handle everything alone anyways; we have no idea what we're up against." Case said to the room. Jade, Reyna, and Reyce looked back with a mixture of emotions. Uncertainty, fear, anger, and from Reyce, hope.
Case still felt pangs of guilt as she already felt like she was letting Mercy down with how little her own coworkers trusted her. She knew she was capable; she just had a lot of slip-ups in the past with her temper. But she was determined to not let her uglier traits get in the way of what needed to be done. She would do what was necessary…even if that meant putting aside her emotional weakness and killing someone if Mercy needed.
Mercy gave Case a slight bow. "I'm confident that your team will carry out our will as needed." She turned to Reyna. "And for your information Reyna, in the event that Case is missing, gone, or can't perform her duties for whatever reason, you will be acting as the leader and may even take the position if Case can't perform."
Case felt a hot spike shoot down her spine. Reyna pursed her lips, then nodded, satisfied with the decision.
Colress spoke for the first time in a while. "In a few moments, we'll deliver your new uniforms and brief you on a new training regime for the upcoming weeks. We will not place you in real combat until we feel that you are ready, so the first few weeks will just be guarding low-risk cargo transfers. When the time comes, your first mission will be to retrieve the stolen Genesect and capture those responsible."
Case nodded, but she didn't know if she really was ready to fight as Mercy believed. Still, she was determined to try. They filed out of the room. Case heard Mercy say behind her, "Reyna, may I see you for a moment?"
She hoped Reyna was about to get chewed out, but her instincts told her otherwise.