[Part 1]
Like a firecracker thrown into a nest of Beedrills, the horrifying noise of the alarm clock instantly jolted Daisuke from his shallow, restless slumber, causing him to practically jump from under his sheets and faceplant into the floor with enough sheer force to knock the remnants of sleep out of his body.
Great.
Shutting off the Arceus damned contraption and double checking the time, he noted that it was indeed an ungodly hour of 4 AM. Or, well, the exact time he had to start getting ready.
Getting his weak and tired mortal shell off the floor, Daisuke crossed the only room in his tiny apartment in three sluggish steps, and turned on the lights - only for the sole lightbulb to fizzle out a second later, blasting his poor useless eyeballs with concentrated how-do-you-do before plunging the living space back into darkness.
Fantastic.
Turning on the TV to give him some semblance of a vision, he quietly set up a cup of instant noodles, and a cup of coffee, then dragging his sorry ass into bathroom while the food cooks. Soon after a quick, unpleasant and nearly heartstopping cold shower - can't waste the hot water - he was already munching on the hot carb sludge.
Crap, he'd kill for some eggs on rice right now.
Not that he could afford them more than a handful of times each month.
Finishing his sad breakfast, Daisuke dressed up, turned off all the electricity, and left his sad little flat for an early commute. Roughly five minutes later, he was already sitting in a bus full of people with that same dead expression as he felt on his own face, just staring into nothing.
There were many different career paths in the world, and your luck determined which ones were available to you. Someone born with a silver spoon in their mouth could become an ace trainer, a Gym Leader, or daresay a Champion, and just live comfortably off Pokemon battles. Someone fortunate enough to have good connections could get a cushy job high enough on a corporate ladder to be able to afford several cars, or maybe even a Jeevee. Someone with just enough luck to live near a high profile place in need of a lot of staff could have delicious food on their table for most days of the week - unless the place got hit with a case of particularly bad luck, like Gyaradocks. And then, there were the rest, earning just enough to continue existing.
Guess which one was Daisuke.
Finally, the bus screeched to a halt, and the half-dead horde of corporate zombies poured out towards the heavily guarded entrance of the facility, going through the usual security checks. X-ray scans, cavity searches, the works. Getting through these could take anywhere from a few minutes to a hour, depending on where one was in the line. And seeing as he had to clock in at 6 AM, it only made sense to arrive to the Tedorigawa research facility before 5.
After finally being let in, Daisuke went to the locker room, changing into his uniform and checking on today's patrol routes. Ah, he had to group up with Jiro and Kei this time. After that, of course, he went to the Pokemon daycare, where his partner stayed.
See, there was no way he could afford to keep his Houndoom, Bitaro, at home. Not only was that place too tiny for the both of them, but feeding the dog would've put Daisuke so far into the red he'd drown in it. Which is why, these corporate daycares were so important - just for the price of eating cup noodles instead of actual food for one additional week each month, his partner could stay at a much comfier place, playing with other Pokemon, and eating better than Daisuke himself. Things people do for their Pokemon.
Just like usual, Bitaro greeted his partner by nearly knocking him off his feet, and making sure there were no unlicked spots on his entire face.
Good boy.
"Alright, you scamp, let's go," Daisuke smiled.
The Tedorigawa compound consisted of a large central building, several helipads to the north, and a few smaller buildings that were solely used by the staff. The entire thing was surrounded by high concrete walls, with guard towers overlooking the surrounding area. The central building was off limits for anyone without a high enough clearance, including Daisuke, so he had no idea what it even looked like inside. Not that he cared enough to try to find out - it was a sure way to get fired. Or worse.
No, his job today was to meet up with the two others, and patrol along the wall. Six hours of patrols, then half a hour for lunch (the staff cafeteria was not good by any stretch of the word, but it was still the only thing keeping him sane despite all those cup noodles), then another six hours of patrol.
Then he'd clock out, go through the security checks one more time, come home, eat another cup of noodles, and pass out as soon as he's done eating.
It was not perfect, but at least it was better than the bottom rung office jobs. Those didn't even have corporate Pokemon daycares! Not even cafeterias!
Today, there were more people patrolling around than usual. And some of them, Daisuke did not recognise at all, which was not all that surprising. It was that time of the year, after all, there was a note about this at the locker room.
Once or twice a year, some old man came to the compound, on practically a tank of a Jeevee. And the security always had extra staff on that day. Not to this extent though - Daisuke was pretty sure it was twice or thrice the extra staff this time around. Did something happen?
Eh, it didn't really matter.
"Oi, Daisuke! Over here!" Kei called him over. Good, at least neither of them had to be with Jiro alone. Don't get him wrong, Daisuke did not HATE the guy, but his patience was definitely tried at times, "I think it's gonna be just the two of us today. Jiro called in with a bad case of stomach flu."
…which probably meant the guy's had a bad feeling about something, then got a terrible Tarot reading, and decided to bounce for the day. That's gonna earn him a demerit and a docked pay. Roughly by amount of three more days on cup noodles instead of normal food. Daisuke could never.
"Ight, let's check in with our handler, he'll pick us someone to work with for today."
The patrol protocol was clear - teams of at least three, each with a gun, a walkie-talkie, a dead man's switch bracelet, and at least one battle-appropriate Pokemon. And yeah, they were assigned not just one, but two more people to patrol with - a portly gal, and a guy with an impressive facial scar, both from the Police Department of Kanazawa - the city Daisuke's flat was located.
So that's where extra people came from. Huh.
With their team finally being up to the protocol, they set out into a comfortable enough patrolling pace. Minimal talking - that could earn them a demerit - though that just meant that Daisuke could proceed with his usual routine of pretending to pay attention to his surroundings, while constructing elaborate music videos in his head. If something required his attention, there are three other people, and four Pokemon to alert him, after all.
It was exactly at noon - just as Daisuke's group made its way to the cafeteria - when the ridiculously armoured Jeevee made its way across the sky towards the helipads. Though naturally, the cafeteria was far more important than that. They only had half a hour to eat, after all.
Today's dinner was roughly the same as usual - a mush of something processed, lightly spiced, and vaguely smelling like meat, plus a piece of bread. No idea where the meat came from, though it tasted a bit differently every single time. On the bright side, it definitely was better than cup noodles. Plus, there was no Jiro to mumble something gross about Slowpoke guts and Tauros tails, so they could eat in peace.
"And what, you get to eat this every day?" the scarred policeman asked, looking fairly impressed.
"Yeah! It's just included in our benefits, you know?" Kei nodded, "What, the PD's just giving you free coffee instead?"
"Free my ass, we've got to buy that out of our own pocket," sneered the portly policewoman, "I haven't seen hot food in months. Damn, this is GOOD."
"According to Hajime, we technically could always just buy less coffee, to afford some good food instead," the scarred policeman noted.
"I need that bean juice in my veins to live. Hajime can choke for all I care"
"Yeah, that's fair"
Finishing their meal without much time to spare, the group returned to their patrol route, along that same Arceus damned wall. Daisuke was just setting into his usual routine, when his partner suddenly froze.
"Huh?.. What's the matter, Bitaro?"
The dog suddenly whimpered, and began pulling Daisuke away for some reason.
"Base, this is group Foxtrot-Uniform, we're north of the base, by the wall near helipads," Kei was rather quick to contact the HQ through the walkie-talkie, "One of our Pokemon is acting strange, whining and-"
Suddenly, the wall right next to them exploded in a shower of concrete and steel.
The last thing Daisuke saw was a rock the size of a pillow hurling towards his head.
[Part 2]
Hmm… Yeah, those walls were a bit sturdier than they looked.
Inabayama thought that the boulder she threw would make it all the way to the huge metal flying machine, but it lost a lot of momentum at the wall, stopping about halfway there. Oh well.
She's got a dozen of those prepared, and as long as the flying thingie was properly trashed, they'd fulfil their role. So she better use them before humans and their stinging weapons get to her. You know, since fighting and throwing rocks at the same time would've been kinda difficult. Okay, MAYBE it would've been a little bit fun, but she was not here to just have fun.
That flying machine had to go before the human that came on it managed to leave.
Grabbing another boulder, the dragon hurled it at the target, noting in the back of her head how several carfuls of humans already left the wall and were headed to her position. Hm, this time the boulder just grazed the flying metal thing.
Alright, third time's the charm?