Chapter 9: Electric Connections
The rain started sometime before 2am. Ava knew this because a large thunderclap that shook the building woke her and almost everyone else in the barracks. The only exceptions were the heaviest of sleepers. The rain was already in a downpour at this point.
The thunderstorm continued for the rest of the night, with bright lighting and rumbling thunder. Ava tried her best to go back to sleep, but it was a fitful rest. Some other trainers in her barracks gave up trying and ranged from playing a board game to reading a book.
When morning finally came, there was still no letup in the rain. The city hadn't had a good rain in months. Ava always enjoyed the rain with the gloominess and fresh scent it brought. She liked it even more when she didn't have to go out in the weather. Since she didn't have a shift today, she took a day to rest.
Not everyone was as lucky, and Amiyra had to go out while it was still raining. She came back soaking wet and in a bad mood.
Ava's next shift was a farm one. She was able to download the mission app on her poke gear at the perfect time, as she was given an alert yesterday that her shift had changed from a wall shift. She had talked to Gavin about this, and apparently from time to time, if no one signs up for the farm shifts, they pull in people from the normal guard shift to fill in the ranks. Farms were the lifeblood of the entire city. They provided most the food required to sustain life within the walls. From meat to vegetables, they cared for all that was needed. That's why protecting them was a high priority for the local government and the League. Pokemon were attracted to the seemingly free food, which required a large force of trainers to prevent that.
From what she learned from Theo, usually D-Rank trainers were not used for these missions. For one, D-Rank trainers make up a majority of the wall guards, so when they are pulled from those shifts and put on the farm shifts, it can take away from people needed to protect the wall. The second reason is that the food can draw in stronger pokemon so trainers who have proved they can fight and have stronger teams are required. The only reason D-Ranks would be pulled in is due to a larger influx of pokemon for some reason or certain seasons that bring greater risk if anything goes wrong.
There were also other farms that produced things like cotton and wool necessary for clothes and the like. Those didn't require the same level of protection from pokemon.
A quick magnet train ride took Ava to a bus stop where other trainers gathered and seemed to be headed to the same place. If public transport wasn't free for trainers, the constant travel for missions would be brutal on her bank account.
She arrived at the barn her shift details designated and found five other people already there. As the time got closer, more people joined until there were 15 total. One of those people was one she recognized. It was the trainer who had sent her out for her ordeal. Upon seeing her, he smiled and did a quick walk over to her.
"Hey Twofer, glad to see you still kicking!" He said enthusiastically.
"Oh, hey…," Ava started before realizing that she did not know his name and trailed off awkwardly. Picking up on that, he introduced himself, "The name's Danny. I'm surprised to see you here. I mean, you're still a D-Rank, right?" At her nod of confirmation, he continued, "Huh, the storm must have done something. There usually aren't any new D-Ranks here."
Ava was going to respond before a voice interrupted all conversation. "Good morning, trainers. My name is Jacob. I will be the trainer in charge today." Ava was surprised to see that this Jacob was the same one that had taken the Ordeal with her. The surprising point wasn't that he was here. She knew he had gone to a farm somewhere, The shocking part was that he was leading this group of mostly C and B-Rank trainers.
He caught her eye, and a glint of recognition flared before he spoke again. "We have two D-Rank trainers today. Will you raise your hands? Ava and a guy to her right raised their hands. "Your job will be to support the C-Rank trainers while patrolling and keeping your eyes out for wild pokemon."
"C-Rank Trainers, raise your hands." Ava saw three-fourths of the trainers raise their hands, including Danny. Jacob continued, "D-Rank trainers go to the nearest person with their hand up. You will be assisting them today." Ava and the other D-Rank went to the person closest to them. Due to their previous conversation, Ava was right next to Danny, so she would be assisting him.
"Due to the recent thunderstorm yesterday, there is an increased amount of electric type pokemon being seen inside and outside the wall. While we may run into one or two of those today, the reason we need help is due to the disruptions they have caused outside the wall. The influx of electric pokemon has disrupted the habitats of a lot of flying pokemon causing them to look for new areas to go to for the time being. With our abundance of food, we seem like a good option, especially for the ones that are alone with no other flock. Your job will be to look out for any pokemon that come by and eliminate them as soon as possible. If you need any backup radio out, I will direct help." He handed out radios to everyone besides Ava and the other D-Rank trainer.
Jacob gave some more directions to the group, including showing on a map where they were supposed to be patrolling. He sent sent them out to go to their posts. The land was filled with lush, low crop growth. Ava wasn't entirely sure what kind of crops were being grown. Maybe it was soybeans; she wasn't a farmer, though, so she couldn't tell. What she could tell was how muddy it was. Amiyra's mudbray would have been thrilled if he was here. Ava not so much, especially knowing she would have to do a deep clean of her shoes when she was done with this.
Once at their respective posts, Danny released his pokemon and advised her to do the same, directly going against the advice for a wall shift. "The only civilians here are farm hands, and while they may not like it, they are used to pokemon being out. It's the best way to protect them and the farm." He tossed two of his three poke balls. The first one released was a bunnelby that had an everstone on a collar around its neck. The second pokemon that materialized was a bird with dark feathers, a crooked yellow beak, and what looked to be a hat on its head. Ava had never seen it before but learned after asking that it was a murkrow.
Ava released Lucky, who settled on her shoulder before preening his feathers. Danny noticed she didn't make a move to release another pokemon and commented, "You can release your second one, twofer." He patted his belt, which contained a third poke ball. "This guy is pretty slow, so I'm only going to send him out when needed."
Great, another person who knew that she had caught two pokemon during her ordeal. "Actually, I only have one pokemon now. It didn't work out with the other." She kept it vague, letting him draw his own conclusions. "So I guess technically not a twofer anymore."
He shrugged, "Nah, you're still a twofer. It doesn't work out with every pokemon. If you win a basketball game but later break a leg, that doesn't change the fact that you won. You captured two pokemon during your ordeal. Therefore, twofer."
His response made Ava feel a little better. It gave Ava the nerve to ask some questions that were burning inside of her, hoping he had some insight: "How is it that a D-Rank is in charge of you guys? Especially him. He did his Ordeal at the same time as me, so he's only been a trainer for like a month."
Danny responded as he kept his eyes on the crops and sky for any threats. "Trust me, I was just as shocked when I first worked with him."
"You've worked with him before? What are the odds of that?"
"Actually pretty high. When you move up in ranks, they try to split out people between wall shifts and farm shifts during the crop seasons. That way those at the farm can get used to the specific needs here and respond quicker to wild pokemon. Having a D-Rank supervisor is definitely unusual, and I was wary of him at first, but he's actually been really great. Usually, those in supervisory positions are also the backup in case of emergencies. Since he just started, obviously he can't be the physical backup, which is why our farm has more B-Rank trainers than some others. But he knows this farm like the back of his hand. I think his dad owns the farm or something, and that combined with his effort have made a really good leader so far."
"Huh, what a weird situation. I'm glad he's got a good head on his shoulders."
"Yeah, he's one of the good D-Rank trainers," he glanced at her. "No offense; I think you're probably one of the good ones, too. Glad I got you instead of the other kid."
"Do you know him or something?"
Danny sighed, "I've worked with him, and it's just kind of depressing. He's been a D-Rank trainer for four years at this point."
This caught Ava by surprise. Four years and still a D-Rank? She voiced her confusion to Danny.
"Honestly, that's what a majority of the D-Ranks are. This ain't the dream career for most people, shockingly," he said sarcastically. "But a lot of people simply do enough to get by, they don't want to grow in their ranks, catch more than two pokemon, or anything. Most never end up going outside the wall again. I'm not one to diss one's life choices, do what you gotta do, but it's depressing as hell working with someone who obviously hates their job. Doesn't help that we're kind of ostracized from the rest of the city, too."
"Dang, they kind of sound like losers," Ava said. She didn't know if she actually believed that. With how busy everything has been, she hasn't really thought about what she wanted to do. Did she really want to raise her rank and encounter more dangerous situations? But she wasn't going to say that in front of someone who obviously didn't like trainers like that. His small laugh showed he agreed with her previous statement.
She wasn't able to muse for long before a loud squawk came from Danny's murkrow before she saw it dive to the ground. This disturbed a Pokémon she hadn't even seen, and the spearow flew up out of the crops. Danny shot a yell at his murkrow "Victoria, I want you to lead it over here." Turning towards Ava he told her, "you're going to take a stab at beating this one."
The turn around to a battle was surprising for Ava, who was still an inexperienced trainer. She got herself together quickly though and sent out her pidove. Lucky started the aerial battle with a couple of hidden powers and pecks, which the wild pokemon retaliated with attacks of its own from its beak and claws. Lucky was close to beating the pokemon when the Murkrow swooped in at the last second and knocked it out with what looked to be a strong wing attack. When it hit the floor, the bunnelby quickly broke its neck with a strong couple hits from its ears.
Ava turned to Danny, who just finished reporting this over the walkie-talkie. "I thought you wanted me to handle that one?"
"It was about to use Gust which could have damaged the crops. Besides getting rid of pests, our other main goal is to prevent as much damage to them as possible. We want these battles to end as quickly. You did good, though. We will switch off, but if you see a chance to catch a pokemon off guard, take it."
Ava nodded, realizing the farm shift required more consideration. In between pokemon fights, she learned more about the agricultural sector in general. There were lots of farms that held different crops as well as the livestock necessary for maintaining life in the city state.
There were herds of milktank and tauros used for milk and beef. Torchic, tepigs, magikarps, and other pokemon were being farmed for their meats as well.
Ava brought up the concern that how were there able to be this many pokemon without them escaping or attacking? Turns out, for the pokemon that could evolve, they were out in facilities that had large amounts of everstone in the walls and floors that prevented any of them from evolving. The pokemon were all also being fed food that was laced with a sedative mixture that contained Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, and other chemicals. Was it the most humane way to handle pokemon? No, but this was all done to provide a consistent food source while preventing damages. Even with all this security, though, sometimes pokemon developed immunities to the drug or to the everstone which caused damages in the past. That was the reason trainers had to patrol near those areas too, despite them not having many wild pokemon near there.
While learning all this, the pokemon continued to show up. Ava had been through a couple wall shifts where no pokemon showed up at all, and that seemed like it wasn't an uncommon occurrence. Even though there was an increase due to the recent storm, the sheer amount of pokemon they were facing was more than she had ever faced before. She understood why this job was given to mainly C and B-Rank trainers. If she was alone, there was no way she would be able to deal with them with her current strength.
Every hour they had around three or four encounters of wild pokemon. Sometimes they were alone, and other times they came in groups of two or three. Most of them were flying types, like predicted, but there had been a couple of rattata that had snuck their way in. They even saw another pidove that had a lighter coloring and looked more mature than Lucky. Beating that one gave Lucky an ego boost if the proud trills and chords were any indication.
Ava and Danny's pokemon worked fairly well together. They rotated who was taking charge to allow their pokemon to rest in between attacks. If they needed assistance, they supported each other in that effort. Ava could tell Lucky was getting exhausted. He had never come anywhere close to the amount of physical activity he was exerting today. She was able to give him a break when it was their time for lunch, and the food helped restore some of his energy. She also used one of the potions that onsite to get him some energy back and fix the scratches and bruises he got. There was nothing too serious, but a lot of little damage accumulated quickly.
The most dangerous encounter so far was when they were called for assistance helping another trainer. There had been two pidgeotto and the trainer wasn't able to maintain control over both of them, with one flying away. They came over to help, or at least Danny came to help. Ava mostly stayed to the side while Lucky got in a shot or two or Hidden Power. Danny's bunnelby was a strong opponent against these flying types. Despite not having aerial versatility, it had an electric Hidden Power and plenty of practice hitting flying targets. It was able to make quick work of a lot of the smaller pokemon and combined with his murkrow, they took down the pidgeotto with ease.
Checking the time, Ava saw they were around three-fourths the way through their shift. Farm shifts ranged from 8-10 hours, and they were doing the longer one. This was the longest shift she has done as a trainer and by far the one with the most activity. Being constantly alert really took the wind out of her. Lucky was patrolling the fields, and by the looks of it had found another pokemon. He gathered a dark ball of energy before shooting it somewhere in the crops. Ava was just thinking that it must have been another ratatta when electricity shot through the fields, hitting Lucky square on.
Ava had no time to react, and Lucky plummeted to the ground. Shaking herself free of the shock, she ran toward him with no care for the crops she crushed beneath her feet. The tiredness she had been feeling was replaced by pure adrenaline. She wasn't able to get there in time before he landed on the ground with a sickening crash. She returned him soon after, just barely avoiding a second shock sent towards the prone bird.
Now that she was closer, she could see who hurt her starter. A small pokemon with large red ears and red marks on its cheeks that contained plus signs in them. A plusle. One that also seemed to be missing an arm. She remembered reading about them; the notes surrounding them had generally considered them weak pokemon with electric attacks. Whoever wrote that must have been drinking because what Ava saw was a threat that had injured and potentially killed her pokemon. One that she now faced with no way of fighting.
"Danny, I need help over here. An electric pokemon knocked out Lucky." She yelled behind her while backpedaling as fast as she could. She could hear him running her way. The plusle was also running her way. The tiny rat oozed pure aggression. She hadn't seen any pokemon this angry before. Even the ariados which could have killed her, wasn't this ferocious.
She was keeping a good pace for going backwards and out speeding it before the small pokemon shot forward at high speed. If the ratatta she had faced the previous week had a weak example of Quick Attack, this plusle had it mastered. Ava's instincts took over, and much like the previous time a pokemon rushed her, she whipped her leg towards it.
Right before her foot connected, the plusle's body lit up with electricity, which then shot through her when she punted the animal. While it went flying, Ava was left worse for wear. The shock ran through her, causing her muscles to sharply contract and her to fall to her knees. Mud splashed all across her uniform. Obviously, she had never been electrocuted before, so it wasn't surprising that she was a little dazed when it happened to her for the first time. This means that she only noticed the plusle attacking again when it was close enough to charge and send off another electric shock at her. With no time to dodge, all she could do was try to duck.
The electricity suddenly turned unnatural and veered off to her right. She looked up. Danny had come at just the right time. With him was his third pokemon, which was somehow the cause of the bolt changing directions. A ryhorn stood to the side where its horn had pulled the electricity towards.
"Bruce, come up," Danny said. His bunnelby shot up from the ground, knocking the plusle off to the side, from which it quickly recovered. What ensued was a fast but brutal battle. With its electric shots unable to hit due to the rhyhorn, the main weapon of the wild plusle was disabled. This didn't mean the fight got any easier. Utilizing quick movements while shooting stars of energy, it was able to dodge a lot of attacks, specifically the mud ones used by Bruce the bunnelby. But the few attacks that did land worked to slow down the plusle enough for it to change tactics and charge the bunny pokemon. This turned out to be the wrong move. Despite a genius use of Spark at the last moment before contact so it couldn't be sucked away, getting close to Bruce was its downfall. Tanking the hit, bunnelby instantly slammed his ears down with full force, pushing the wild Pokémon into the ground. He continued pounding for a little until the plusle didn't stand up.
Ava thought it was dead before Danny grabbed a ball from his belt and sucked the rat into it, which shook twice before dinging.
"You're actually catching that thing. Did you see how aggressive it was?" Ava asked incredulously.
"Did you see how powerful it was? I've been looking for an electric pokemon for a while," Danny shrugged. "I'm not going to turn down the chance to get a good pokemon."
Ava thought he was crazy for trying to deal with that obvious monster but wasn't going to push the topic further. Her main concern was what to do about Lucky. He was in his pokeball now, but he had taken a really strong hit. She knew all too well that the poke balls weren't an end all be all for keeping pokemon safe.
"Do you think I can go to the barn? Lucky took a bad hit, and I want to heal him before something bad happens," Ava asked.
"Of course," Danny responded before relaying the situation over the walkie-talkie. Getting a response, he turned back to her, "Jacob will assist you once you get to the barn."
Ava thanked him and then booked it towards the barn. She could get her peace of mind and breath back once she knew Lucky would be alright.
