Okay, because of all the plot and all the backstory and flashbacks. I'm going to show you an approximate timeline with a made up date 12/1/2000 (For readers not in the U.S, the format is month/day/year.) (this is not the actual date, there is no actual date.)
Zach Schrank gets arrested (9/10/2000)
Scott becomes the leader of Oak Alpha (10/13/2000)
Zach Schrank breaks out of jail and assumes the identity of Lord Kazuma (10/15/2000)
Juan gets recruited to the Oak Agency (10/17/2000)
Joyce gets recruited to Oak Alpha (10/19/2000)
Month skip: New Oak Alpha recruits, training
Marlow gets recruited to the Gamma Team (11/20/2000)
Marlow, Kazuma, and Jacob get promoted to the mission branch (11/24/2000)
The mission branch goes on the island raid (11/25/2000)
Present story (11/25/2000)
I hope you enjoy it!
No one's POV
3 days ago
Scott watched as the two newest recruits trained against each other. Their names were Victor and Ellen.
Victor was a tech guy and had two Rotoms with him, one of them didn't battle however and usually jumped into a bunch of different appliances. This way, Victor had Rotom powered devices like a computer or tablet. His other Rotom did lots of battling though. Victor always carried a backpack with all the Rotom appliances in it.
Ellen was a seasoned battler and took it very seriously. She had very strange habits however. For example, she had a massive collection of things ranging from coins, bottle caps, rubber bands, paperclips, rubber balls, glass tokens, cutleries, etc. She also refused to do certain things at certain times.
"Gnasher, use Dragon Claw!"
"Dodge it Java!"
A Gabite jumped at a Rotom, its claws glowing as it swiped at Java. Java simply zipped under and away.
"Perfect dodge! Use Shadow Ball!"
A ball started forming in Java's mouth, it launched the ball at Gnasher, who raised one of his fins to block it.
"I'm surprised you didn't name your Rotom zippy. Gnasher, resume attack!"
Gnasher charged at Java again with his claws. Java dodged every swipe before letting loose a Shadow Ball.
"Block it again!"
Gnasher raised his fin again and blocked the Shadow Ball. He ducked under another Shadow Ball and charged forward.
Java dodged his Dragon Claw again multiple times. But Gnasher wasn't about to give in.
"Rock Slide!"
Gnasher summoned down a multitude of rocks and sent them at Java. Java dodged them by weaving around the rocks and prepared another Shadow Ball.
Right when he fired, something teal came at Java and knocked him like a bat. It was Gnasher's Dragon Claw. He charged forward at the disoriented Rotom and used Dragon Claw again.
"No! Java, get up and use Shadow Ball!"
It floated up unsteady, but then crashed to the ground again.
"Eh, you did great buddy. Return."
Victor took out a pokéball like no other. For starters, it had a speaker right below where the button should be. And instead of a button, there was a circular hole that resembled a charging port. The ball also had LED eyes.
Java leaped into the ball through the charging port. A slight ding sounded from the ball as the eyes lit up.
"Zzzrt! Hey Victor. That was a nice battle. I hope we win this time!"
"Me too, but I'm not too sure about our chances of winning. But there's no harm in trying. Go, Bell!"
A Bronzong erupted from his pokéball. It made a weird mechanical sound before hovering off the floor.
"Return Gnasher," said Ellen as she held out Gnasher's pokéball. She tossed her blond hair and smiled. "Is your Bronzong ready for this? Go, Magia!"
A Delphox appeared from her ball. Victor only smiled at her choice.
"I wouldn't be so sure. Toxic!"
Bell spat Toxic at Magia. She had no time to dodge it and glowed purple as the poison struck.
"Don't worry Magia, we'll finish this quickly. Can you dodge a Fire Blast?"
Magia swung her wand and created a Daimonji out of fire and threw it at Bell. Instead of dodging, Bell took the attack straight on.
"Argh I forgot it can be Heatproof. Return Magia. Go, Orchid!"
In a burst of light, a Lurantis appeared. It raised its claws at Bell. Who just stared at the Pokémon blankly.
"Already switching out? Fine then, Toxic!"
"Not this time! Dodge and use Leech Seed!"
Orchid twisted away and shot out multiple seeds. The seeds ensnared Bell and started draining him.
"Attack with Superpower!"
Orchid leaped towards Bell and bashed into him while glowing orange.
"Hah, all that did was lower your Pokémon's attack and defense."
"Orchid, X-Scissor."
Orchid slashed Bell across the front with her claws. Bell staggered back a bit before fainting.
"H-how?"
"Contrary. It reverses any stat boosts, or in this case, losses."
"Smart. I guess I need to improve my battle strategy. Just wait until the week after next week when you face me again. I'll use Java's appliances."
Ellen smiled. "I'll wait until then I guess."
Scott walked up. "Great battle you two. I see you are improving your strategies from last time I battled you Ellen. As for you Victor, I recommend you start using the appliances."
"I have a question," said Victor.
"What is it?"
"How come we're doing all this training? We just started here less than a month ago and we're already doing so much training."
"I wouldn't necessarily call the past few missions success. On our last mission, two Magma grunts and their admins escaped."
"True that."
"Anyways, can you get Juan for me. Our training session will start in six minutes."
"Right here captain." Juan walked into the room and gave Scott a salute.
"You don't have to do that. Anyways, are you ready?"
"Of course. Will we do a 2v2 since you can't safely use your Zoroark?"
"It's fine. We can do 2v3."
"Whatever you say." He walked to one side of the arena. "Come on out Raptor!"
Scott smiled. He couldn't pass up a friendly battle.
An hour later
Scott's POV
I sat at my desk, looking for some missing papers. All my documents seemed to be disappearing these days. I sighed and put some documents I was holding. I worried about my team. We all had our flaws, and we needed to fix them.
I, for starters, needed to get more sleep. I can't remember the last time I actually slept peacefully. But there's always this nagging feeling about failure.
Joyce is a very optimistic pacifist. Which I really don't understand. She sees the best in people to a fault. I can't really blame her for the failure on the last mission. But she could have done something else instead of trying to convince the person to stop.
Juan is a pretty nice guy and is pretty determined at his work. But he beats himself up too much about his sister. Not even Joyce can convince him that his sister's kidnapping wasn't his fault. I hope we'll be able to save her someday.
Victor was very helpful, especially with his knowledge of programming. But the guy can go on a tangent, especially when he's talking about programming or asking questions.
Then there's Ellen. She's really good at battling, but I don't understand her habits. Like, she still demands to have a bedtime and refuses to eat anything sugary two hours before then. She also refuses to do any physical activities between the early morning and night. She probably had to do all these things as a little girl. But she's twenty-one now.
There were so many things we could have done differently on the mission. I can't help but think about it all the time.
Six days ago
No one's POV
Five Oak Agency members stood on top of a building. Facing a tech store a few feet below. It was late at night, the perfect time for robberies to happen.
"Okay, this is your first time doing a mission in which you have to arrest criminals. What we are going to do is simple. We are going to wait for a time when they aren't paying attention, then we move in," said Scott.
"Question. What are we going to do once we're there?"
"I was getting to that. First, I'm going to issue a warning. If they surrender, then wait for them to go on their knees with their hands behind their back before arresting them. If they refuse to surrender, I'll issue two more warnings before you can move in and forcefully arrest them. If they start aggression, then we have clearance to send out our own Pokémon."
"But-"
"Ssh, watch."
Five Team Magma members walked into the store. One of them wore different attire from the other four. Distinguishing him as a Magma admin. They grabbed the store owner and bound him up.
"What they're doing is horrible! We have to stop them!" cried Joyce.
"I know, but we have to wait." responded Scott.
They watched as the Team Magma grunts moved in and started to loot the place. One member stood outside the door and scanned the area for anyone.
"What do we do now?" asked Juan.
"Don't worry. I'll send in Scout to paralyze him for a bit. We just have to get down there first. So that us paralyzing him doesn't alert them."
"Are you sure that's the only way?" asked Joyce.
"It's the way I'm going. Come on out Scout."
His Pokémon appeared and flew onto his shoulder. Scott nodded to his teammates and started climbing down the building, going down with the windows.
He touched down to the ground and looked up at his teammates. They were going at a slower pace than him. Juan jumped down on the ground and caught Victor as he slipped.
"Sorry, my bad."
Scott just shook his head as he helped Joyce down. Ellen finally came down and leaped back from the wall as if it were alive.
"N-nothing to worry about. Let's go."
They went behind another building as Scout flew over to watch the guard. They crept to the side of the tech store wall and pressed themselves against it. Scott peeked behind the wall and motioned his team forward. He looked at Scout to make sure she was watching and rubbed his pointer finger and thumb together.
She flew down towards the man and unleashed a low power Discharge. Scott ran forward and caught him as he fell. He pulled him back to the others.
The Team Magma people didn't seem to notice that their comrade just disappeared. They continued stuffing hardware into sacks.
"We can forget about the man for now. Let's move in."
They came into the hardware store. The Team Magma members immediately noticed them.
Scott stepped forward and pulled out his badge. "Oak Agency, put your hands up where I can see them."
The Team Magma Admin chuckled. "Glad to see adults with actual authority are trying to stop us. Not some kid who got a fancy rare Mudkip the other day. But no, we won't put our hands up. Go, Camerupt!"
The other Team Magma members took his cue and sent out their own Pokémon. A Camerupt, Mightyena, Crobat, and a Houndoom all appeared.
"Fine then. If you aren't going to take this peacefully. Out, Darv!"
The rest of his team also sent their Pokémon. Darv, Candy, Raptor, Java, and Gnasher all appeared.
"Raptor, take care of the Crobat!"
"Nice try! Out fly that bird!"
Raptor charged at the Crobat as the Houndoom fired a Fire Blast at Gnasher. Gnasher dodged it and used Bulldoze. The move slammed into the Houndoom and surrounding areas.
"Don't use moves like that. We need to keep the damage minimal. Darv, Dragon Breath!"
Darv breathed out a stream of paralyzing breath. It hit the Camerupt straight on. It puffed up its back and used Eruption in retaliation.
"Candy, Protect!"
Candy jumped in front of all of them and surrounded them with Protect. The Houndoom and Camerupt barraged them with fire attacks.
"Java, attack the Crobat with Thunderbolt!"
The Rotom flew forward and tried attacking the Crobat with Thunderbolt, but it just flew away from the attack as Raptor dive bombed it.
"If you're attacking the Crobat, then who has the Mightyena?"
Just then, the Mightyena jumped at Gnasher, a trail of ice leading away from its mouth.
"Raptor, use Close Combat!"
Raptor intercepted the Mightyena as Candy used Protect. Raptor slammed into the Mightyena in a barrage of wings and claws.
"Darv, keep using Dragon Breath!"
"Gnasher, Swords Dance!"
Darv exhaled another paralyzing breath while Gnasher raised his attack with Swords Dance. The Houndoom leaped back as it dodged the Dragon Breath.
A yellow flash brightened the room as Java hit the Crobat with Thunderbolt. The Mightyena likewise was felled by Raptor's Close Combats.
"Damn it! Let's split!"
They returned their Pokémon and started running to the back exit. The Oak Agency members wasted no time in chasing after them.
"We can't let them get away! Darv, Bulldoze!"
Darv flew forward and tore up the ground behind the Team Magma members. One of them tripped as his leg got caught in the broken ground.
"Leave him for now, we need to get the other crooks."
They chased the Team Magma members down the street. They caught another one of the criminals when Java used Thunderbolt on him. They ran into an alleyway with the Oak Agency close behind.
"We're giving you one more chance to surrender peacefully."
"Team Magma never surrenders, go Golem!"
"Darv, use-"
"Explosion!"
The Golem shook and started glowing.
"Everyone get down!"
An explosion came from the Golem as smoke filled the alleyway. When the smoke cleared, the Oak Agency were crowding behind Candy's Protect, but the Team Magma members were gone.
"Dang it! They got away!" shouted Scott.
"Let's round up the other two before they can escape," said Juan.
"I can't believe they escaped."
"Not exactly, look at that hole," said Joyce.
That's when they notice the giant gaping hole in the back of the alleyway. There was a piece of red cloth on a piece of jagged brick.
"That's way too obvious for a clue." commented Juan.
"It could be one of those trick things. Leave an obvious clue so that your pursuer would think it's too good to be true. But you really left the clue and they just over-thought it." mused Victor.
"Or they could have accidentally left a trail." stated Ellen.
"We can't risk it. Joyce and Candy will take the Team Magma members back to base. Ellen and Victor will hang around here to find another trail while me and Juan will follow the hole."
They all agreed and went off. The hole was very dusty and bricks were scattered all over the place.
"This hole was probably the result of the explosion. This hole is huge." said Juan as he pulled himself through the hole.
"True, but it doesn't mean they escaped through the hole. I wondered how the explosion caused the hole if they were standing in front of the wall?"
"Maybe they leaped to the sides. We couldn't have possibly heard them over the noise of the explosion."
"What even is this building anyways?"
Scott looked around and noted the crates and shelves.
"We're in another warehouse. I hate warehouses, and I also hate the fact that warehouses are everywhere in the city. It's the perfect place for crime. We'll check the crates in case they got the idea to hide in them. Make sure you watch the exit just in case."
"You got it captain. I have a perfect idea. Go, Typhlosion!"
The giant Serperior appeared. It rose up and tossed its head a bit before setting down.
"Guard the front of the entrance over there," said Juan, pointing at the door. "Warn us in case you see anybody other than us approaching."
Typhlsion nodded and slithered off. Scott and Juan started going from crate to crate. Searching for the escaped Team Magma members.
"There has to be a faster way to do this," said Scott as he kicked an empty crate over.
"We could just kick them all. That's faster than prying all of them over. We can also have our Pookemon to help us search."
"No point in checking the really small crates either. Go, Darv!"
"Go, Raptor!"
"Okay you two. Check all the crates in this warehouse. There is no need to be gentle," said Scott
"No need to be gentle?"
"If they wanted to be treated nicely, they wouldn't have tried to escape."
Juan shrugged and went back to searching the crates. Darv charged at the crates with Bulldoze while Raptor picked them up and dropped them.
Eventually, Raptor lifted up a large crate with a bit of struggle before pulling himself up. Scott noticed this and suspected why it was heavy. He motioned to Juan who easily understood.
"Raptor, put the box down. It's probably filled with heavy equipment that we wouldn't want to damage."
Raptor and Darv kept searching the other boxes while Scott and Juan sent out Scout and Pio respectively. Both Pokémon eagerly chirped at the sight of each other but quickly settled down after a motion from Scott.
They crept towards the crate and after a quick countdown, flipped the cover upwards. A Medicham and the old Houndoom leaped out. They used Psycho Cut and Fire Blast as Scott and Juan leaped out of the way.
"Scout use Air Cutter!"
Scout flapped her wings and generated sharp crescents of air at the Medicham. The Medicham raised its arm as the waves hit.
"Pio, Thunderbolt!"
Pio fired a bolt of lightning at the Houndoom as it gave a pained howl as it glowed yellow. The paralysis setting in.
The sound of crates being moved grew apparent as the fight continued on. Scott looked to the cause of the sound and saw two of the escaped Team Magma members rising out of crates and escaping.
"There they are! You keep battling, I'll arrest those grunts. Scout, listen to Juan for now." said Scott.
"Will do captain. Scout, keep using Air Cutter. Pio, use Sweet Kiss."
Scott ran after the escaping grunts. Raptor and Darv were already on their tails while Typhlosion was readying himself for them.
"Darv, use Dragon Breath!"
Darv breathed out a plume of Dragon Breath. One of the Team Magma members pulled out a cable launcher with a silver G on it and shot it at the roof. He grabbed his comrade as they swung up.
"After them. Darv, carry me up."
Darv grabbed Scott with his six legs and flew upwards, Scott kept his eyes trained on the fleeing grunts. Raptor pulled ahead and caught up to them as they escaped through a sky roof.
Darv pulled Scott through the sky roof. He looked down and saw a car pulling up to two fleeing Team Magma Members.
"Raptor, fly down there and stop them. I'm coming."
The giant bird Pokémon flew down at the Team Magma members. Darv flew Scott down as Raptor started to harass them. Scott dropped down over the Team Magma members. The car pulled up as two people stepped out.
One of them was the escaped Team Magma admin, while the other was also a female admin.
"Oak Agency, I suggest you peacefully surrender. You have already committed theft, resisting arrest, assisting criminals, and many other things."
"All you Oak Agency members know how to do is big talk. Where's your team huh? You really think you can defeat the two of us by yourself," said the woman.
"If my calculations are correct, my teammate should be here any moment. And then it will be three against two. And all my other teammates should be here eventually." As he said this, he put his hand behind him and pressed the emergency page button. This would alert the rest of Oak Alpha to his location.
"If that's right," said the man. "Then we won't stick around and wait for them! Go, Camerupt!"
"Go, Seviper!"
The Camerupt and Seviper appeared and stared down Darv. Darv stepped back a bit, his feelers twitching.
"It looks like your Pokémon's not the only one who's scared." jeered the lady. "Seviper, Crunch!"
"Dodge it!"
The Seviper leaped forward and opened its jaws. Darv leaped upwards and flew out of the way.
"Camerupt, Eruption."
As Darv flew away from the Seviper, it was attacked by the Eruption. The Vibrava clearly couldn't handle both Pokémon.
"Go, Xander."
Scott threw the ultra ball containing the Pokémon. The Hisuian Zoroark appeared and gave a fearsome roar. The Team Magma admins and their Pokémon froze.
"Hyper-"
Xander lunged forward and used Shadow Claw. His move connected with the Camerupt's side and sent it slamming into a building. The Seviper was trying to slither away from the conflict as Xander sent Bitter Malice flying at the Camerupt.
"Don't run away! Use, Crunch!"
The Seviper hesitantly started forward, and then leaped at Xander. Its fangs glowing as it bit down. Xander grabbed its tail and threw it on the ground. He opened his mouth and unleashed Hyper Beam.
Scott returned Xander and Darv back to their pokéballs, "Now I think this would be a good time to surrender."
"Not a chance! We still have other Pokémon," said the lady.
"Y'know, after what happened, let's not take any chances," said the man.
Scott stepped forward as both admins turned and ran towards the car. The back doors opened as they got close. Scott made it to the car right when the two admins leaped in. He barely had time to move to the sides as the car moved back in reverse.
Scott was knocked down as the car pulled into drive and shot off at startling speeds. Scott groaned as he stood up, clutching his stomach. They were way too fast and far for Darv to catch up. He pulled out his radio and contacted his team.
"They got away."
Back to 3 days ago
Scott's POV
I can still feel it sometimes. Whenever I move into a different position quickly or I sit badly. I didn't react properly that day, they shouldn't have been able to get me that easily. Something happened at that moment, maybe it was how my Zoroark acted, or maybe it's just me.
That business with Marcus and his Salazzle changed me, I always feel like I'm maybe not cut out to be the leader of Oak Alpha. I don't know what's wrong with me, I wouldn't even be here if it was for Joyce. Speaking of Joyce, I can hear her humming.
"Hey Scott, are you all right?" she asked when she came in
It's obviously a rhetorical question because I haven't slept in days. I knew she was just trying to be polite. "Not really."
"Still thinking about the last mission huh? You can't really blame yourself, Team Magma is known for being very slippery."
"I know, but it just makes me feel as if I'm not cut out to be a leader."
"That was in the past Scott, you should focus on the future, and use that to decide whether you're a good leader or not. And honestly, I believe you're a very good leader."
"I still wonder why you decided to be a lawyer instead of a guidance counselor."
She smiled at my remark. "They're many different ways to help people. Being a lawyer is the way I chose. I'm sure there will be many other missions, and then you'll be able to make the choice."
"Great, now that you said that, there will be a mission."
She folded her arms and gave me another smile. "I'm sure that only-"
Victor ran into the room. "There you are, captain. We've got a situation."
I stared at him blankly, and then looked at Joyce. "Dinner's on you. It's my uncalled bet."
She rolled her eyes but laughed anyway. "Fine, you called it."
No one's POV
They walked into the meeting room where Ellen and Juan were already seated. Victor walked to the front of the room and sent out Vicey, who hopped into the computer attached to a large screen.
"Ok, here's a run down of the problem. You know the Washi Dam located near Washi park? The place where-"
"Yes Victor, everyone knows that place. Everyone goes there in 5th grade." interrupted Scott.
"Anyways, some electrical problems happened with the new valve system and the dam started to force the water into one area without flushing it off. Now the dam is starting to break. Some of the park rangers are trying to hold the dam, but they need help."
"Okay, we're going to need a few rescue cables, SR guns, and a medical dispatch," said Scott.
Juan chuckled nervously. "I kind of don't know what SR guns are."
"Structure Repair guns. Now let's get moving, we'll be taking a truck to hold the equipment. Time and breaking dams wait for nobody."
Five minutes later
"Why is everyone slowing down before getting out of the way? We are not the police! We could care less about whether or not you are speeding. We have people to rescue!" ranted Scott as he drove between people.
"Maybe they just don't want to crash into each other," said Joyce.
"Well they're slowing things down. I have the lights and sirens on and that's not telling them they should get out of the way in advance."
"Honestly, what's the difference between police sirens and Oak Agency sirens?" asked Victor.
"The difference is that ours is green and white. Anyone who checks their rearview mirror regularly would know."
"I say let's stop getting mad at bad drivers and focus on the mission," said Ellen
They all agreed and drove the rest of the way in silence.
Fifteen minutes later
They jumped out of the truck and surveyed the dam, the place was indeed bursting. Water flowed uncontrollably through the dam gates, while water also flowed out from the numerous cracks along the walls.
A Golurk and a Gigalith were at the base of the dam, trying to hold the breaking metal supports. The bottom of the wall near the supports were already crumbling. There were people all about, some of them floating on loose pieces of concrete and steel.
"Here's what we'll do. Ellen, you take a SR gun and seal the metal supports with your Delphox. The rest of us will go and rescue the people. Joyce, do you think you could carry them on Candy?"
"Of course."
"Okay everyone, let's go."
Ellen went to the truck and pulled out a SR gun. It was a two handed gun with a pointed nozzle. It had two tanks on each side that contained a semiliquid that when exposed to air, quickly solidifies and hardens. Intense heat sped up this process and also made the semiliquid even harder. She sent out Delphox and they went towards the supports
Juan also took one of the rescue cables and sent out Raptor. He tied the cable to Raptor's leg and climbed on. Together they flew towards some people hanging on to a loose guard rail.
"Victor, come with me, this is a two man job," said Scott as Joyce went to assist some people.
"What do you have in mind?" asked Victor.
"I need you to take one of those rescue cables and follow me."
Victor ran off to the truck while Scott sent out Darv and started going to the water's edge. Victor came back with the cable as Scott watched the water pouring from the gates.
"I need you to hold the cable while I swim out to those people over there. The ones floating dangerously close to the water falling from one of the gates."
"Will do captain."
"Darv, assist Victor. I'm going in."
Scott waded into the water and started swimming. Fortunately, the standard Oak Agency suit is waterproof. The cable was snugly tied around his waist. Scott could feel the pull of the currents as he swam towards the trapped people.
He dove underwater as a piece of loose concrete flashed past him. He rose back up and grabbed onto the edge of the concrete the people were stranded on.
"Everyone stay calm, help is on the way."
He unzipped his pocket and pulled out a pocket drill. He started drilling through the front of the concrete piece. No one said a word as he was working. He eventually finished and he united the rescue cable and slipped it through the hole.
"Okay, everyone get ready. My partner and I are going to start pulling this concrete slab back to solid ground. No moving until I give the clear."
He jumped back into the water and swam back to where Victor and Darv were. He climbed back onto land and grabbed part.
"I attached the rescue cable to the concrete slab those people are floating on. We want to pull strong, but not too fast so that the people there fall. Ready? Pull!"
They pulled the cable back, stepping backwards as the cable grew taut. At first, nothing seemed to happen as they pulled. But then, the slab started moving as the people on it were thrown about. Eventually, it gained enough momentum for Victor, Darv, and Scott to stop pulling and let it drift.
Scott pulled the slab and held it in place as everyone on it slowly got off. Victor started to lead everyone to the entrance of the park where there was medical assistance awaiting. While Scott returned Darv.
Scott let go of the cable and untied once everyone got off. He heard a cry for help off to the side as he started to leave. He saw a middle-aged man trapped under a pile of stone and concrete. He was pretty far away near the base of the dam.
Scott leaped into the water and started swimming again. He climbed onto a fallen tree and looked at the trapped person. Even if he did get there, he would only be able to use Darv to carry him. The Vibrava could really only carry people vertical distances.
"This is why we should have brought a lifeboat or something."
He slid back into the water as the tree drifted away. He eventually made it to where the man was, it turned out to be a slowly drifting pile of rubble.
"Thank Arceus you're here, I've been stuck here ever since the dam burst. I would have died if it weren't for my Bisharp."
"Don't worry sir, I'll just have to move this rubble first. Can you stay still?"
The man gave a dry laugh. "I can't even feel my legs. I used to be a great detective when I was younger. I was the reason for the Great Drug Bust down in Barius City."
Scott simply nodded his head as he lifted heavy blocks of concrete and stone. He eventually was able to lift the man out, being careful not to upset anymore of the concrete.
"Thank you young man, but how are we supposed to get out? My legs are of little use to me anymore."
"I'll ask one of my partners to pick you up as long as he's not busy."
Scott looked up towards the top of the dam where Juan went. He was busy helping a little girl into a rescue harness. The railing where they were standing was slowly breaking apart.
The walkway suddenly tilted as part of it crumbled away. The top of the dam broke as an onset of concrete and came spilling down towards them. Juan obviously noticed the crumbling walkway, but he was still oblivious to the falling concrete.
"Juan, watch out!" Scott shouted.
Juan managed to hear him and looked up. He saw the tumbling concrete and grabbed the girl before jumping off the walkway. He grabbed the cable attached to Raptor and swung violently as the Staraptor flew away.
Scott let out a breath and was about to turn back to the man when the man shouted, "Look!"
Scott immediately turned to where the man was pointing at and saw more water pouring down. Seeing no other choice, he grabbed the man and dove into the water. Scott was a good swimmer, but he couldn't hold up the man and fight the currents at the same time. He started fighting to stay up as his vision started blacking.
Something long and green wrapped around Scott's and the man's waist. It pulled both of them out of the water. It turned out to be Typhlosion and Juan. The little girl he was rescuing was also there.
"I'm so sorry captain, I should have been paying atten-"
"It's okay Juan, I didn't see the water coming. We all make mistakes."
"But if-"
"It's actually fine, let's just focus on the rest of the mission. Can you take us back to the entrance?"
"Of course captain!" Juan gave him a clumsy salute, clearly indicating he'd never done one before.
Scott helped the man into the rescue harness while the little girl climbed directly onto Raptor's back, giggling as he gave a caw when she patted him. Juan climbed in front of her and they all flew together to the entrance.
When they got there and landed, the girl was immediately met with her mom. Her mom had been ranting to Joyce about the low quality of this place and that she needed to speak to the manager.
"There you are sweetie! I was so worried about you! Are you hurt?" cried the woman as she frantically hugged her daughter and checked her.
"No, this man on a Pokémon called Raptor saved me. Raptor is my new favorite Pokémon!"
"That's nice sweetie, now let's get out of here before this place crumbles anymore. The people here should really put safety first. This place deserves one star."
"Ok, bye Raptor! Bye man with the black hair and glasses!" shouted the girl, waving as her mom pulled her out of the park.
Scott watched the girl and her mom leave before turning to Juan. "Honestly one of my favorite parts of the job. Anyways, Ellen's here. Get Victor and Joyce back to the truck, I'll meet you there."
"Okay captain," said Juan before walking off, he clearly seemed very distant from the situation.
Scott met everyone at the truck, all of them were completely drenched from their various rescues.
"Everyone should be clear, we can start sealing the dam now. The first thing we want to do is close gates one, two, five and six. That way, we can seal all the cracks on those areas without having to close all six gates. Because if we do that, the cracks will burst. We also have to shut off the new valve system because that's what caused this entire mess in the first place. Juan will head to the main control unit, the rest of us will be on standby with SR guns."
Everyone nodded their heads. Juan jumped onto Raptor, who was in the middle of a short nap, and flew off to the top of the dam. Joyce, Scott, and Victor, all grabbed SR guns and started moving to various positions around the base of the dam.
Juan flew over the entire dam on raptor, the place was still beautiful despite it being a crumbling mess. Juan wasn't thinking about the sights however, his mind was on what happened when he almost got Scott killed. On whether he was truly fit for the team.
Juan shook his negative thoughts away. Now was the time to focus on fixing the dam. He spotted the control center down below and told Raptor to dive. They dove forward and pulled up in front of the control center. He pulled out his pokéball and returned Raptor.
He opened the door to the control center and walked in slowly. The lights were out and everything was dark. Juan pulled out a waterproof pocket flashlight and shone it around the room.
He eventually found the light switch and flicked it on. Nothing happened, he flicked it back and forth a few more times before giving up. He walked around the room and found the control panel. It was completely dead.
"Okay, new plan."
He walked back outside and looked around the building. He eventually found the fuse box. He flipped it open and groaned when he saw some wires were busted.
"Great, I'm no electrician. There's always the other option."
He shut off all incoming power before picking up the busted wires. After some examination, he sent out Pio and Typhlosion.
"Okay guys, here's the plan," said Juan, speaking directly to Pio. "You will bundle all these wires together while I go with Typhlosion to the control panel. Once Typhlosion comes back and pulls this lever, you'll channel the electricity from these wires."
Pio and Typhlosion nodded. Typhlosion lifted Pio to the circuit breaker with his tail before following Juan to the control panel. Juan flipped the lights switch to on in preparation for when the power came on. He walked to the control panel and shone the lights on all the buttons, trying to memorize them so Pio would spend less time channeling the electricity.
"Ok Typhlosion, you can go pull the wire now."
Typhlosion slithered away through the open door. Juan sat back and waited for the power to come on. Suddenly, the light flickered on and off as power surged through the control center. Everything then flashed on and beeped as all systems turned back on.
A glowing circle appeared and hovered in the center of the control panel and spoke.
"I am A.I.S.H.A. The Automated Interactive Speech Holographic Assistant. How may I help you? Warning, Washi dam integrity below 50%. The valve system is failing and will need repair."
" I already know all that. Close dam gates 1,2 and 5,6."
"Closing gates. Gates 1 and 5 are overflowed with water and cannot be closed. The water cannot be reduced in level due to the broken valve system."
"What?"
"Closing gates. Gates 1 and 5 are overflowed with water and cannot be closed. The water cannot be reduced in level due to the broken valve system."
"You already told me that! How can I fix it?"
"I'm not sure how that's done."
"Argh! Stupid AI systems."
"Sorry about that, let us know how I can be fixed at www-"
"Shut up." Juan pulled out his radio. "Guys, there's too much water in gates 1 and 5. They won't close."
Scott was the first one to answer. "We can see that. Nonetheless, we'll just have to do with what we got."
"I'm looking at a layout of the Washi Dam Vicey pulled from, somewhere. Apparently, there's something called a flood zone," said Victor.
"A flood zone is an area that leads off to a dry channel. That channel eventually leads off into the sea. The flood zone is separated from the dam with a wall. If the area floods and water goes over the wall, it will fill up the dry channel and go off into the ocean," came an unfamiliar, female voice.
"What the, this is a direct channel. Who are you?" question Scott.
"I am Vicey, Victor's Rotom and assistant."
"Sorry about that, she hacked into my radio link and insisted it would be faster if she explained."
"Wait, aren't Rotom genderless? How come you call it she?" asked Juan.
"Well, I made the voice box in her Rotom device have a female voice. And it just feels wrong to be referring to Pokémon as it. I actually modeled her voice-"
"We're getting off topic here. Let's focus on fixing the dam," said Ellen.
"Right, anyways. There has been too much debris catching against the wall and prevents enough water from flooding over. If we're able to break the debris and part of the wall, we can get enough water to flow through the dry channel and stop the flooding of the dam."
"That doesn't fix that fact the gates won't close." stated Joyce.
"If we could force the valve system to close. The water input should be less and we can close the gates," said Ellen.
"Then it's a plan. You, Victor, and Juan will try to see what you guys can do about the valve system. Me and Joyce will start breaking the wall."
"Alright, I'll fly you guys over on Raptor meet at the entrance," said Juan.
Juan stepped out of the room and went over to where his Pokémon were. Typhlosion was coiled up sleeping while Pio was still sitting in the fuse box.
"Okay you guys, get some rest," said Juan as he returned them to their pokéballs.
He sent out Raptor again. He started to climb onto him, when Raptor shook his head.
"Yea buddy, I know you've been flying people around and you'd rather relax. But we have to rescue people, it's-"
Raptor gave a caw and flapped his wings. Juan shrugged and climbed on. They flew off over the dam. In the few minutes he'd been in the control center, the dam had flooded even more. He saw Ellen and Victor waving up at him. And he pulled Raptor into a dive.
He landed in front of them. "Come on guys let's go. There's only space for two people, so one of you will have to hang from a rescue cable."
Victor started climbing on Raptor when Ellen stopped him.
"I can't hang from the rescue cable. I'm not allowed to dangle from high things."
Victor stared at her incredulously. "You're joking right?"
She shook her head.
"We don't have time for this. Just hang onto the rope Victor," said Juan.
"But wouldn't it be a bit weird since-"
"We don't talk about that. Come on!"
They settled down into their spots. With Ellen sitting directly behind Juan.
"Alright, next stop, the valve system. Victor, can Vicey pull up that layout of Washi Dam?" asked Juan.
"Of course she can, let's go!"
"So how are we going to get rid of all this stuff?" asked Joyce.
"We'll use our Pokémon. I'm sure Xander could get this clear in seconds."
"Okay then. Out, Candy."
"Go, Xander!"
The Galarian Rapidash and Hisuian Zoroark appeared. Zoroark gave a loud roar before looking off to the sides. Searching for any Pokémon.
"Okay everyone, here's what we need to do. That wall is very congested with debris and will need to be partially destroyed so that water can go through the dry channel. Are you ready?"
Candy neighed and tossed his head. Xander snarled and opened his mouth to unleash Hyper Beam.
"Candy, Psycho Cut."
Candy's horn glowed white as he sent out multiple blades of psychic energy. Both attacks hit the flood zone wall at the same time and caused debris to fly up.
"Protect!"
Candy surrounded all four of them in a shimmering barrier. None of the debris landed on the barrier. But Joyce wanted to make sure.
When the dust cleared, most of the debris was knocked away. A huge hole was in the middle of the wall. Most likely from Xander's Hyper Beam.
"Alright guys, let's keep this up."
Juan, Ellen, and Vicor touched down far down into the dam. The valve system was indeed broken and was letting water in at full blast.
"Any ideas one how to shut this off?" shouted Juan over the noise of the rushing water.
"According to Vicey's layout! There is something called a friction lever, that makes the valve gate much easier to move!" shouted Victor.
"I don't think that's helpful at all!" shouted Ellen. "What do we do from there?"
"Our Pokémon can help pull the valve gate manually! We can tie a bunch of rescue cables! Doesn't your Delphox know Psychic?"
"Yea, but where is this lever even located? It's not like it's going to be sitting out in the open on a giant cliff!"
Victor sent out Vicey and asked her to pull up the layout. He looked it over and smiled. "It actually is. There's a giant path that leads to that cliff over there!" Victor pointed to a cliff overlooking the valve gate. "There is also a giant elevator somewhere here! Apparently, it was made for Golurks to come here on their own and close the valve gate."
"Well at least we can fly! Go, Raptor!" Juan sent out the Staraptor and leaped on.
"You go ahead! Me and Ellen will stay behind and ready the rescue cables!"
Juan nodded, not wanting to shout anymore. He and Raptor flew up to the cliff and touched down. The lever was very big, and looked heavy too.
"Alright, come on out Typhlosion!"
Typhlosion appeared in a flash of light. He looked around at the new scenery and stretched his body along the ground.
"I need you to pull that lever. It's pretty big, but I know you're strong. Use Wrap."
Typhlosion slithered up to the lever and wrapped his lower body around it. He pulled with all his might, but the lever didn't move at all.
Raptor grabbed Typhlosion with his claws and helped pull, while Juan sent out Pio and then pushed as well.
Pio, being small. Couldn't do much and stared at the. Despite their best efforts, Raptor, Typhlosion, and Juan couldn't move it.
Pio observed a button on the base. He couldn't read what was next to it, but he jumped on the button anyway.
Suddenly, Juan, Typhlosion, and Raptor fell forward as the switch finally moved. Juan sat up and picked up his glasses.
"Huh, lock button. To make sure a heavy windstorm doesn't flip the lever. Would have been nice to know. Anyways, let's get back to the others."
He returned his Pokémon and jumped onto Rapto. He flew down to where Ellen and Victor were waiting on the gate. As he went down, Victor held up a cable and pointed to the other side. Raptor grabbed the cable and flew to where Victor was pointing.
Raptor set the cable down as Victor and Ellen came over to the spot where they were.
"Okay, so we just send out our Pokémon and pull with everything we have?" asked Ellen.
"Yeah, all the ones who can!" shouted Juan.
"Well, Victor better put his back to it! Go, Orchid, Gnasher, and Magia!"
"Out, Typhlosion!"
There Pokémon all appeared. Juan stood back and addressed everyone.
"Listen up everyone, we have to close the valve gate with everything we got! We'll have to pull as hard as we can to close the gate!"
All the Pokémon took hold of the rope in any way they could. Magia walked up to the edge and readied Psychic. Victor sent out Bell once they all were ready and tied the end of the cable to the arch on his head.
Victor, Ellen, and Juan grabbed the rope at various places.
"All right everyone. Ready, set pull!"
Everyone started pulling as hard as they could. Raptor was pulling on Bell at the back while Magia used Psychic. The valve gate started to move as they all put their best efforts.
"Keep pulling! It's moving!"
They all strained against the weight of the gate. It kept moving, slowly shutting off the amount of water.
Suddenly, the gate abruptly stopped its slow progress. Everyone pulled as hard as they could, but the gate refused to budge.
"I don't, think, it's, moving!" panted Victor.
"We have to keep trying!" replied Juan.
Despite how much they pulled. The gate didn't move anymore. Then, the cable suddenly snapped as all Pokémon except for Magia, and trainers went flying back.
Magia rushed over to where Ellen was and started to check on her. All the trainers painfully stood up and returned their Pokémon.
"I think the gate got stuck despite the friction lever," groaned Ellen, stating the obvious.
"What do we do now?" asked Juan.
"I have a desperate idea. Maybe Java could enter his Frost form and freeze the space between the gate and this side," said Victor.
"That's way too big of a job for one Pokémon!" Ellen objected.
"Got any other ideas?" shot back Victor.
"Relax guys. Why don't we just ask Java? He can talk in his pokéball right?" Juan asked, putting his hands up for peace.
Victor nodded and pulled out Java's pokéball. "Hey Java. I have something to ask of you."
The eyes lit up and Java spoke, " Zrrt! Hello Victor. Of course you can ask something of me."
Victor turned around and pointed the ball at the valve gate. "I need you to enter your Frost form and freeze the gap between here and the gate."
"So basically, you want me to extend the gap between that giant bar of steel with ice."
"Pretty much, it has to be at least three feet deep as well."
Java thought it over for a bit. "The task may be a bit difficult. But I will take it. For no matter how big or small I may be, I will always have Sinnoh's strength within me!"
"Now's not the time to be patriotic Java. Juan, can you get my bag of appliances for me? It's in the trunk."
"Okay, go Raptor!"
Raptor appeared sleepily. He gave a yawn and glared at Juan.
"Don't worry buddy. You'll get to sleep all you want tomorrow. Just three more trips."
He climbed onto Raptor and flew off. Java came out of his pokéball and floated around.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Ellen.
"Java made his choice. It's up to him."
A few minutes later, Juan came back with a giant bag. Victor opened it and pulled out what looked like a mini freezer.
"All right Java, in you go."
Java spun around and flew into the freezer. The freezer lit up and hovered up into the air.
"Zrrt! I'm ready."
"Alright Java, do your thing."
Java flew over the valve gate and opened his freezer door. He shot Ice Beam into the water. Quickly whipping it back and forth to form an ice barrier. The water was pushing the ice away as he tried forming it.
"We have to help Java anyway we can!" shouted Ellen.
"I know! Use Magia to keep the ice together." replied VIctor.
"Good idea! Go, Magia! Use Psychic to keep the ice from falling away"
Magia used Psychic and pulled back all the ice chunks. Together with Java, they sealed the gap.
Java tiredly floated over to Victor. "I did it!"
"You certainly did. Good job Java. You deserve some rest."
Java flew into the pokéball as Victor replaced the appliance in his bag. He then pulled out his radio.
"The river has been temporarily blocked off. You can close the gates now."
"Okay, I'm already in position," said Juan.
"You can close all four gates actually. Me and Joyce sealed the cracks in the dam wall," said Scott.
"What did the wall ever do?" asked Joyce.
Scott's sigh came through the radio as everyone else laughed.
Victor put away his radio and looked around. "How are we supposed to get down?"
"Didn't you mention a giant elevator earlier?"
Two hours later
"Just under three hours ago, an electrical problem with the Washi Dam's new valve system caused a massive influx of excess water. This ultimately caused the dam's wall to burst. Fortunately, Oak Alpha, a special branch of Oak Agency, was able to rescue everyone before anyone was fatally injured. One of these people was Samuel green. A famous reporter from Barius City. We of course have to personally thank Oak Alpha's agents for their amazing rescue. Now thanking Scott Harvard, Joyce Wondaria, Juan Garcia, Victor West, and Ellen Barlowe!"
The Oak Alpha's members appeared on the TV screen as the news reporter continued talking. All heads turned in their direction as they simply continued to eat their food. Ignoring the sudden attention.
They were in a restaurant eating dinner. Joyce had organized the entire thing since, due to Scott's uncalled bet, was paying for everything.
Scott was wearing a simple brown shirt and jeans. Joyce was wearing a light purple dress to match her hair. Juan was wearing a long sleeve shirt with the silhouette of a Serperior. Victor had a T-shirt with the word Sinnoh Power. And Ellen wore a red dress with brown stripes.
They had all ordered the same things and were talking about the news report that was playing.
"Ah the news, always jumping from one thing to another." commented Scott.
"And exaggerating things," said Ellen.
"Don't forget the extremely complicated words." added Joyce.
"I prefer to read the newspaper. Always read the Voyana times, the best newspaper there is," said Juan, leaning back in his chair.
"I don't think you should-" started Joyce.
Juan fell over and landed on his back. The room grew quiet as he picked up the chair. One of the waiters just stared at him.
"Um, don't worry! I'll pay for it."
Ellen stood up. "I gotta go, I can't stand silence. I need to be home soon anyways."
"Oh come on! Don't let my small blunder drive you away."
She picked up her plate and shook her head. "Don't worry, it's not about you. Bye everyone!"
Juan sighed and looked at the time. "Well, it is getting dark so I'm going to head back to the Oak Agency dorms. Bye guys."
"So I guess this is the point where we all get up and leave," said Victor.
"I guess so," said Joyce.
"Well, I guess I better head out. Bye guys," said Scott.
Victor was still finishing up while Joyce was paying when Scott left. He walked to his car, the one not associated with Oak Agency, and got in. He started the engine and was about to pull out of the parking lot when he heard Joyce shouting his name.
Joyce walked up to his car as he rolled down the window.
"I just wanted to ask you about earlier today. When you were wondering whether or not you were fit to be captain. What do you think now? Do you believe you can be a captain?"
Scott genuinely smiled for the first time in four days. "I do believe so."
And that's the end of the chapter! Sorry it took me so long to type this. I became sick at one point and couldn't write this. I again decided to split the chapter up so I could post this earlier. Also, it would fit the theme of this chapter. This chapter is mostly focused on what the Oak Agency has been doing in the past month. Also to introduce some of the characters I added. Unfortunately, the chapter split will mean that the six new OCs I received will be introduced a chapter late. Apologies for the inconvenience. Visit my profile page for chapter updates and to answer a poll I have going on.
