Unknown Month, Unknown Year
The sun hadn't even risen yet by the time Burr was out of her bed, switching on the lights throughout her borrowed flat. She nearly tripped over Jester who was half-on, half-off the bed, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as the scruffy Zoroark dozed. She half wished she could sleep in such a way. Must be nice being able to laze around all day. Burr switched on her Xtransceiver, skimming through the weather report for the day as she began to put on her work uniform. Burr had been a pokémon ranger for a long time at that point and while she was a morning person, she felt particularly fatigued; especially after a night such as the last one.
"I think the headaches are finally starting to wear off," she rambled cheerfully to herself, careful not to trip over her partner pokémon as she tossed her nightwear into the laundry basket and then pulled on her pack and steel-toed boots.
It was Monday. On any other day of the week- or the year for that matter- she'd be starting her commute to the ranger station in about five minutes' time. But as things tend to do, they changed and she had been just about to take off when she realized to her dismay that she had, as a matter of fact, donned her ranger uniform. It was Monday and Mondays meant that she would be helping out at Gear Station in Nimbasa City which meant that she couldn't wear her usual uniform.
"Of course," she groaned. "Of course, I'd dissociate and do something like this. Ugh. That's ten minutes wasted." With a heavy sigh, she quickly slipped out of her ranger uniform and changed into a different one; one that had been specifically tailored for her new job. She quickly donned a black cotton t-shirt and her pair of tailored, dark green dress pants. She slipped on a pair of black socks and the similarly dark and glossy dress shoes before grabbing her dark green dress jacket from the closet. While Burr wasn't a big fan of the color green, it at least wasn't as bright as her ranger uniform which stuck out like a sore thumb with its garish oranges and yellows.
She made sure to grab the matching hat too, adjusting the brim so that it sat snugly on her unruly hair. Where there should've been a blue-and-white badge at the top denoting the signature icon of Gear Station was instead a green, black and blue hurricane badge pinned neatly to the dark sash of the hat: a pokémon ranger badge. Anybody who wasn't in the know wouldn't be able to tell that she wasn't a depot agent despite the fact that she was certainly dressed to look the part. It had been an intentional oversight; an adjustment approved by the standardized dress code.
And after all, Burr would need to stay incognito. She couldn't go to Gear Station in ranger wear because that would incite confusion amongst the people insinuating that something was amiss in the station; something that Gear Station and namely the remaining Subway Boss did not want to imply. She still wasn't familiar with the situation herself, but after her supposed near-death experience a few months prior, Burr had been moved from active duty service to reserves. That meant that instead of working with wild pokémon and managing herself, she'd be watching fuzzy camera feed playbacks under close scrutiny, patrolling dark tunnels, and attending to the Subway Boss the entire day. And what bothered her the most was the fact that the remaining Subway Boss- my boss now, she supposed- had some kind of issue with her which made her easy-breezy desk job uncomfortable and even made her hesitant to even go into work in the first place.
There had been one singular extra task to Burr's new tasking and it always took precedence over watching the cameras or organizing the storage rooms: serving as Subway Boss Emmet's personal battle assistant and based on how confused the other depot agents were when she came in on the first day, she did some asking around. Apparently, that particular position was one often kept empty by the big boss himself and it was allegedly impossible to earn the credentials for or get hired for.
For starters, a potential candidate had to have over four years of battling experience, at least one elite four or league victory under their belt, emergency ranger clearance, current year certifications in both BLS and CPR, a bachelor's degree for information analytics, and finally, a candidate had to have a recommendation letter from a battle facility alumni or a gym leader. Burr found it to be both hilarious and somewhat mystifying that she only had a select few of those qualifications.
What had confused her the most was when she had found out that she had been specifically requested by Subway Boss Emmet himself. She had never even applied for the position in the first place as she had been in a coma when her supposed application had been put through. There hadn't been any given reason in the file that Burr had seen upon her boss telling her the news and sending her a copy of her hiring contract. None at all. Some of the depot agents had even asked the man in her stead when she had stumbled in on her first day. There had been nothing she could've told them, especially when she found out that she had been chosen over a handful of candidates that had all had the qualifications for the job but had been turned down. And frankly, that unnerved her a little.
While Burr enjoyed the occasional victory, she found that pokémon battling wasn't really much of her thing anymore as she grew older. She had taken the traditional journey that most young kids do when they turn eleven or even twelve, but that had been over a decade prior and her relationships with her pokémon had changed from being partners in victory to being partners in life. She saw them more as handy pets; watching them get hurt in battle outweighed them getting injured for entertainment or- as some eccentric trainers phrased it- understanding. She supposed it was her career as a pokémon ranger that had changed her disposition on the subject as being a ranger meant being forced to rely on pokémon for numerous jobs. It only made her sudden switch in tasks all the more jarring.
Emmet was usually portrayed as the happy-go-lucky, often mischievous one of the former Subway Boss Twins. After his brother went missing and the whole scandal when the press suspected him of murdering his brother came up, his personality and demeanor had changed completely. If anything, Subway Boss Emmet came off more like how his twin brother used to be: pensive, reclusive, and cold. She rarely heard anything in his voice that wasn't exhaustion or if not his actual voice than contemplative silence. Some days, the man didn't even talk at all.
He had been tolerable to her. There were no casual conversations or muttered small talk between them. The man had never been outright rude nor had he made any negative comments or reviews of her work. If he needed something or wanted her to perform an action, it would be a quick command with little to no room for questions. Monotonous. Unbiased. It never changed. Burr had grown used to it, even if the other depot agents hadn't.
She knew she had it relatively easy when it came to her job; especially with being a battle assistant. All she had to do was heal up Emmet's pokémon, equip them with the items the boss chose, and then sit back and watch as her new boss blew through each trainer like it was nothing but a pathetic joke to him. That kind of strength had been both frightening and exciting to behold. Allegedly, the boss's battle style had become so rigorous and demanding that defeated challengers had taken to making an internet forum page with videos of their spectacular losses begging for strangers to critique their failures. So long as Emmet did not turn that pent-up energy onto her, she would keep her mouth shut and perform within her expectations.
Just before she left her flat, Burr grabbed her belt containing her issued capture styler- the tool of choice for all pokémon rangers- and strapped it on, feeling much more confident and protected. Jester gathered himself off of the floor and stretched, taking his place at her side as they exited the small apartment complex together.
Lentimas Town was the only place in Unova that Burr felt at home. It was a dry and dusty city bordered on all sides by rough mountains and valleys teeming in dense brush and weeds. It was so remote and inhospitable that not even the subways- prided upon being able to get its passengers anywhere in Unova- reached there. Just like Riako, Burr thought cheerfully to herself. And maybe once I'm done here, I can visit home again. Can't remember the last time I was there.
She gave the ranger station a fond glance as she passed it by, eyeing the pristine glass double doors of the front entrance way. Soon, she assured herself. Soon, she'd be back to doing her usual work of keeping an eye on the local ecosystems. Soon, she'd be back to helping take care of wild pokémon reports. But it had been half a year since her new change of station and Burr was beginning to wonder when her schedule would go back to normal.
Despite the fact that her traveling expenses were paid for by her job, Burr still found it a massive headache to travel all the way to Undella Town just to hop on the subway line just to get to Nimbasa City. And that wasn't even accounting for the thirty-minute trek through Reversal Mountain which was practically crawling with pokémon during that time of year. After a whole hour of walking to the nearby Undella Town, figuring out the unovan subway system for the umpteenth time, and then riding the reverse rail, Burr stepped off of the B-Line train into Gear Station.
She made her way through the busy halls and into the station center, stepping past rows of concession stands and into a well-lit hall toward an 'employees only' sign which she knew to be the door heading into the depot agent office. Thankfully, somebody had had the common sense to put a key code on the entrance door so that random commuters couldn't just waltz in thinking they were heading into the bathroom.
"What the- hey, are you new here?" A man about a head taller whipped around to gawk at her, his shoes clicking on the floor as he moved to bar the way further into the room. "I'm sorry ma'am, but this isn't a public space."
"Oi, that's just our undercover ranger. Let her be, Frasier," called a familiar voice from elsewhere in the room.
"Thanks, Noah!" Burr waved at the friendly depot agent, a buddy that she had met during her first days learning the ropes around the station. She winked at the unknown depot agent as she passed him by, pausing when Noah swiveled in his chair to face her.
"We really oughta get you a badge or something." Noah snickered, "You'd think the uniform would be obvious, huh?"
"I recognize people by face!" the unknown man retorted hotly.
Burr chuckled. "Fair. I'm Burr." She reached out and gave the man a firm handshake. "I'm here working on the tunnel errors that've been going on for a while. I'm only wearing the uniform to blend in so the passengers don't freak out. I swear, I'm not here to gather intel or anything."
"Richter," the man muttered. "I work in the communications sector. Sorry about that."
"No worries," Burr shrugged. "It happens. Hey Noah. You're not opening, are you?"
"Nope," the man chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "I was on the night shift, so I get to go home in about an hour."
Burr snorted. "I don't envy you. I could never work a graveyard shift."
"Not a night person?"
"Not really."
Burr found her little set-aside space in one of the offices in the back room and set down her travel pack. She made sure her stylus was still on her person and then counted the pokéballs at her belt. "One, two, three, four, five, six-" her fingers went to the second well-worn leather belt below the first- "seven, eight, nine! Yup! The gang's all here."
One of the things Burr liked best about being a ranger was the fact that she could carry as many pokémon with her as she wanted so long as she was on duty or if she had a qualifying reason to. The most she had ever carried at a time were twenty-three and that was after being assigned to re-catch a professor's lost research group. Now, she carried only nine. Six of them were her primary team that she had caught in Unova. The other three were extras, only in case of emergencies: an Onix for quick tunneling, an Audino for first aid assistance, and a Beartic in case of flooding. Just in case.
She knew the moment Emmet walked in by the loud clicking of his shoes on the polished linoleum; like metal on metal. Has to be Boss Emmet, Burr assumed. Cilan doesn't wear dress shoes and he's out for the week.
The hall outside slowly came to life as quiet but pleasant greetings echoed across the main office. The door creaked open and a new cacophony of noise flooded in as the morning wave of depot agents arrived.
Burr sighed. So much for a chance to relax or even charge my Xtrans for that matter. She reached into her locker and pulled out her id badge and her administrative access card. She clipped her ring of keys to her belt and stuffed them into her pockets before making sure that every item she could need for a search was on her person. Once she was sure that everything was where it was supposed to be, she checked her uniform over. Jester gave her a snicker of approval from where he sat on the bench, snidely running a paw through its ragged mane as though making sure he looked tidy too.
Burr ruffled her partner's fur. "That's enough out of you!" With a quick shooing motion and a pat on the head, Jester retreated back to his pokéball. With that settled, Burr bowed herself out of the room to start the day.
"Good morning. Yup. You're right on time as per usual," Emmet's voice spoke from his position near the main auxiliary screens. He hadn't yet donned his signature white-and-red coat, taking a long drink from a cup of what Burr presumed to be coffee as the man scanned the camera feeds from the eastern subway tunnels, his eyes focused on reading the metrics piling along the bottom of the screen.
"Good morning, Boss Emmet," Burr replied nonchalantly. "Are we doing regular doubles or super doubles first thing today?"
"I am Emmet. Super doubles will be our first arrival this morning. A challenger postponed his challenge yesterday. He'll be sure to come through soon. Please get the crate of status orbs and herbs from the storage room and bring them to me. Once you do that, place Durant and Garbodor into the recovery machine."
Burr found herself nodding; the usual order. "Yes, sir," she responded. "I'll be right back."
"Verrry good. Please do that."
Burr knew the schedule well enough by then. She would work with Emmet for two hours on one line and then take a fifteen-minute break. From there, she would look through all of the camera feed clips sent her way by the night crew and then survey the tunnels with the most occurrences. After that would be her hour lunch and then after that, she would work with Emmet for the remaining hours of the shift depending on the number of registered challengers.
The day seemed to pass in a slow slog until midday when one of the depot agents had greeted her the moment her and Emmet had gotten off the E-Line train on the return line, fresh after the Subway Boss had utterly obliterated his awaiting challenger scheduled for that hour. Apparently, the line to Anville Town had been blocked halfway through due to a warp in the tunnel.
Burr blinked. "That's factually impossible. A warp? The walls are made out of concrete," she muttered under her breath, her eyes catching on the tabbed screen in the depot agent's hand. "You can't just warp concrete."
"Well, it happened," the agent grumbled. "Just take a look, will you?"
"On it."
Burr immediately dropped off her extra bag in the main office and made her way to the gates of the H-Line, hardly noticing that somebody else was tailing her. She quickly pulled out her administrative card and skipped past the ticket gate, hurrying over to the conducting depot agent who was awaiting her arrival.
"What's this I hear about the wall being warped?" she asked the moment she was close enough.
"I- wait, who are you?"
Burr pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers before readopting a strained smile. "I'm the survey pokémon ranger assigned to Gear Station," Burr elaborated, pulling out her badge. "Now what's going on here?"
"Sorry. Uh- I'm not too sure myself," the agent admitted. He pulled out a smaller portable holographic auxiliary screen and tabbed over to an active map of the H-Line. "The agents in Anville are saying that their arriving train never came, but we're still receiving active reports from the conductor. And here- midway through- see that weird spur in the tunnel wall? If you flip back to ten seconds before the camera started its third recording, it's not there at all."
"Huh." Burr supposed it could be the work of some ground or perhaps steel-type pokémon. Maybe a ghost-type. There was only one way to find out. "I'll head in through the ground tunnel and see what's going on. I'm deploying my ground-assist pokémon." She turned only to realize that Emmet had followed along and had been listening in on the ongoing situation.
"I am Emmet. How large is the spur in comparison to the tunnel?" he inquired.
"It's blocking half of the tunnel widthwise, boss. The tracks are completely undisturbed, though."
"Let me see the last communication with the H-Line."
Burr technically didn't have to wait for Emmet to give her the go-ahead, but she stayed and waited; it would be stupid to waltz into an active subway tunnel to look for a rock spur and having her boss keep an eye on things in the main station would be minimally helpful.
To Burr, Emmet's emotions were quite easy to read and from the way that his eyes narrowed and how his exhausted frown turned to a tight-lipped grimace, she could tell that whatever it was he had picked up on was anything but good.
"Page the main office," Emmet commanded coldly. "Tell them to power down all battle rails and passenger lines until we figure out what's going on. Take the H-Line off completely. Message the conductor of the train to apply the emergency brakes and lock the boarding doors." Emmet focused his unblinking stare at the screen, his eyes tracking something invisible back-and-forth across the projection as if afraid to look away. He then glanced up at the depot agent before him, his mouth twisting into an annoyed grimace. "That is all."
So I have the go-ahead to continue? Great. Burr was just about to unlock the railings keeping the under-platform inaccessible to the commuters when someone cleared their throat loudly from behind her. A hand came down upon her shoulder and wrenched her back only inches away from the start of the concrete stairs.
"You."
Burr turned. It was just her and Emmet on the platform and as he removed his hand from her shoulder, his form dwarfing her own in shadows, Burr could see the freezing glint of ire in the man's gaze. She was immediately reminded of a few uncomfortable encounters of skirting the city streets at night. I don't like where this is going. "Me?" she replied, taking a slight step back.
"You," Emmet nodded, taking a step forward. Again. "You are responsible for documenting the disturbance. I know the tunnels best between us." He then moved past her. "I am Emmet and I will lead the way. You will follow behind me."
"Of course, sir," Burr nodded, ignoring how rangers weren't supposed to be accompanied by non-ranger escorts on potential emergency missions. "Right behind you, sir."
Though a bit unorthodox, Burr called upon her Onix to get both her and Emmet to the scene faster than would normally be possible, the stone serpent sliding along the tunnel like a speeding bullet train. Emmet called a halt as they arrived at the middle point where the train had allegedly disappeared and flicked on his flashlight. Burr recalled her Onix.
"Here we are," Burr muttered aloud. She equipped her stylus and with a snap, she flicked out the extended piece which lit up brightly along the length of the stylus line. "I'll take it from here, sir." She reached toward her belt and released two of her safeguard pokémon, Lilith, her Arcanine, and Scout, her Stoutland. "Lilith, you take the front. Scout, you take the rear. Ten paces, both of you." Both of her partners gave an affirmative huff before taking their places and with each piece in their respective positions- Burr making sure to keep Emmet in her sight- they set off, their footsteps echoing as they walked further down the dark tunnel.
"I am Emmet. Remind me what exactly a ranger is supposed to do in this situation." He kept his radio firmly on his wrist, looking ahead at the pitch-black tunnel without breaking stride.
Burr rolled her eyes, noting the sarcastic, almost acidic tone that overpowered his usual monotonous drawl. It was better than the gaping, obvious silence that had lingered since they had departed from the main station.
"My job here is to make sure that if it's a pokémon causing this disturbance, to calm the pokémon down, direct them to somewhere safer, and try to figure out why the disturbance happened in the first place."
"And if it's not a pokémon?" Emmet queried.
It wasn't the first time her boss had pried into what her usual work was. Little passive-aggressive questions here and there about what went into her reports and why his depot agents couldn't do them for her in her stead; quite confusing when she considered the fact that he had quite literally endorsed her to take the position to do that job.
"If it's not a pokémon, then it's either a person- which is highly unlikely- or it's the work of a deity figure." Burr paused. "What legendaries does Unova have again? I know about the legendary dragons already. Isn't there a trio? The swords of…?"
"-Justice," Emmet cut in, his voice laced with irritation. "Cobalion, Verizion, and Terakion." After a beat, he added, "Keldeo is not considered a member of the trio in central Unova."
"Right. Well, in case it's something like a deity pokémon or something of that ilk, I have to report it to the Ranger's Investigations Bureau, or R.I.B. for short. They're licensed to capture legendary pokémon which more often than not possess abilities outside of what we as humans can understand. Much safer than- oh I don't know- asking some eleven-year-old to do it," she joked to herself.
"Abilities like what?" Emmet retorted, having completely ignored her quip.
Burr paused. Is it safe to actually answer that question? She risked a glance at her boss, almost immediately regretting her decision when she realized that his cold silver eyes had been trained on her. How long has he been looking at me? She swallowed. "Think of abilities like… distorting time or warping space. I couldn't tell you much else; we lower rangers don't really deal with legendaries all that frequently. All we do is make reports and repel pokémon."
"I see…"
Burr risked another glance at her boss. Emmet stared straight ahead, still maintaining his long stride as he white-knuckled his flashlight. Right. Subway Boss Ingo disappeared in these tunnels all that time ago. Well, not on the H-Line; he went missing in the A-Line. Is Boss Emmet thinking something along those lines too? …Maybe I should play it safe and stick closer to him.
Lilith gave a warning growl as the tunnel began to hit its curve and Burr instinctively extended the length of her stylus line. Not good. "I'm gonna call in to the station," Burr announced. "UNCGS-Central, this is ULCR-048. Do you read me? Over," Burr spoke into her Xtrans.
The tunnel certainly didn't look all too different apart from the very noticeable spur in the tunnel wall. The edges were smooth, almost like the tunnel had been built that way. It was a wedge and from the way that the depot agents had described it before, it had apparently grown to obscure a good chunk of the tunnel heading forward. It was almost as though somebody had tried to section off the other half of the tunnel.
"ULCR-048, this is UNCGS-Central. I read you loud and clear. What's your location and status? Over."
"UNCGS-Central, this is ULCR-048. I've reached the notated spur with Subway Boss Emmet. We are actively observing the anomaly from up close," Burr reported, flashing her light through the cracks in the concrete. "The distortion seems to have grown larger from the last given report and it now stretches further down the corridor; nearly covers the entire thing. Will check for any definitive moment. Over."
She heard Emmet stiffen behind her as he stumbled upon a large dent near the metal tracks, his eyes widening as he took a nervous step back. Burr followed his gaze, her eyes landing on what looked to be a small white crack in the bottom section of the wall radiating a strange ethereal light. The edges wavered, constantly fluxing as if about to widen or close up.
"It's the same. The very same," Emmet observed, his trembling hands moving to the pokéballs on his belt.
"You've seen it before?" The words came out of her mouth before she could correct herself and she winced when her boss turned and glared at her. "Apologies, sir," she squeaked. "Sorry. You… you don't have to answer that question." She moved closer to the distortion, trying to ignore the sudden heat that radiated from the anomaly. "Now I'm no expert, but this doesn't look like the effects of a pokémon move."
She kneeled down to take a closer look, using her Xtrans to take video footage of the anomaly. She hadn't expected for her camera to only pick up garbled feed, the lens blurring until the photo became indiscernible with static. She reached into her pack and pulled out a small notebook, jotting down the coordinates and the description of the anomaly.
"ULCR-048, this is UNCGS-Central. Any status update? Over."
Burr set down her notepad. "UNCGS-Central, this is ULCR-048." She watched fascinated when her pen rolled off of the closed book and over toward the roiling series of cracks. It fell into the crack, pausing as its outline faded to nothingness. "No definitive movement but definitely cause for alarm. Anomaly noted to cause… disappearances? Lost my pen," she commented nonchalantly. "It doesn't look like it's spreading. Uh. What's the current location of the missing train? Over."
"ULCR-048, this is UNCGS-Central. We are checking for the current location of the missing train. We will update you when we receive notice of its whereabouts. Over."
Burr shook her head and put away her radio. "Weird. Let me just test that again."
"Test what?" Emmet echoed behind her.
"You didn't just see that?" She took out another spare pen and rolled it over to the anomaly, watching as it too faded into nothingness upon rolling up to the anomaly's event horizon. "Oh, the feds are gonna trip when I tell them about this." Burr then blinked, her eyes narrowing. "I wonder…?" She took a careful step closer, immediately being hauled back by her boss.
"Don't get any closer!" Emmet suddenly commanded, dragging her back to his side. "Step away from the yellow line! Hands and feet inside the vehicle, please and thank you." He then scowled at her, shaking his head. "You should know better than to walk on live rails."
Burr scowled right back at him. "I can understand your discomfort at being so close to this… thing," she acknowledged his concerns "-but I still have to do my job. I will take your warnings into consideration, though. It's not like I was going to just walk right over it; I'm not that dumb." She strode out toward the anomaly again, kneeling down with her camera in hand. "I'm gonna take a handful of pictures for the report. As soon as I'm done, we can leave." She then turned back to glare at him. "As long as that's okay with you, of course. You are the one that's leading this expedition, aren't you?"
"I am," Emmet snarked back at her. He stilled his fidgeting hands and fixed the visor of his hat. "Do as you must. The faster we leave, the better."
"Sure, sure. Of course." As Burr moved to document the strange distortion, she heard Emmet release one of his pokémon behind her. Electricity crackled furiously and footsteps shuffled back further away from her position.
"UNCGS-Central, this is SB-2. Requesting the current coordinates of the H-Line car. Awaiting a response. Over."
"SB-2, this is UNCGS-Central. The current coordinates of the H-line car are E7, J10. Over."
"The car's not too far then," Burr quipped. "We should be approaching K1 in a minute or two if we start walking. We could take the repair tunnels to get around… whatever is going on here."
"I am Emmet. The further we get away from that thing, the happier I'll be. Can we depart from this station? Now preferably?"
"Sure, sure. Hold your horses. Just let me send another minute report back to the station and then we'll be on our way. Trust me, I don't like being down here either, sir." Burr tucked away her camera and motioned Lilith and Scout to come closer. "UNCGS-Central, this is ULCR-048. Please notify UNCRS and ULCRS of this anomaly. It appears to be stable but that cannot be confirmed. I'm sending over my collected data now. Subway Boss Emmet and I are making our way to the H-Line car to-"
"UNCGS-Central to ULCR-048, Code Yellow." The once-calm voice of the operator on the other side had suddenly become panicked. "I repeat, Code Yellow. We do not have visuals on the H-Line car or its twenty-three passengers as of now. We have lost contact with the H-Line car and are attempting to relink with the train's conductor. We advise you not to progress any further. Please make your way to Exit M and wait until we regain contact. Over."