Frontline Mission #3

Jackson adjusted the backpack that was over his shoulders as he walked through Sylvangloam. The place had a strange, but not necessarily bad, energy about it. The foliage was all tinted with blue and giant mushrooms grew as tall as the trees. There were also plenty of flowers and other plant life that grew on the mystical landscape. His starter pokemon, Atlas, walked beside him. The pokemon’s blue and yellow tail was upright and alert.

The trainer wanted to tell his pokemon to put his guard down, but he also knew that wasn’t really an option based on where they were headed. Jackson had received a request to aid some of the trainers in Murkhaven. The area was filled with shadow pokemon as experts tried to fight back the fog that had engulfed the area. Although he had accepted the task, it certainly wasn’t something that would be easy. 

Soon enough they reached the edge of Sylvangloam where some trainers were waiting for him. “Good you’re here. We’re going to lead you to the tower.” One of the trainers said. They were all wearing uniforms and had large pokemon standing beside them that looked ready for battle. Even Atlas seemed rather tame next to the pokemon that had clearly been hardened by many battles.

“Alright, lead the way then.” Jackson answered and the trainers began to walk forward into Murkhaven. As they left Sylvangloam behind the ground transitioned from being colorful to a sickly looking black and brown. As they walked the ground also made a suctioning noise due to the mud. 

There was a tense silence as the trainers led Jackson and Atlas to the tower. It was much taller than anything else in the area, although that wasn’t saying much since the only competition was some sickly trees. One of the trainers opened a nearby metal door, motioning for Jackson to enter. “We’re going to be down here setting up light beacons. You’re in charge of the light cannon that’s at the top.” He explained as he pointed to the top of the tower. Atlas’ eyes also followed his finger.

“... Light cannon?” Jackson questioned, although he was extremely familiar with tech this wasn’t exactly a known concept for him.

“For Arceus’ sake, he’s going to get us all killed.” A female trainer snapped but the other trainer who had been speaking raised a head.

“Jackson is a tech expert, so I’m sure he can handle it.” He said sternly and the other trainers shifted normally. “You just have to point it near any shadow pokemon that get too close to us.” 

“Seems easy enough. But uh, what does it do?” Jackson inquired and the trainer cleared his throat.

“Mostly scares them away.” He answered.

“Mostly?!” Jackson shot back.

“For the lucky ones. Otherwise they meet rather… unfortunate fate.” The trainer explained, which Jackson decided was enough of an explanation as Atlas let out a sad whine. “Now let’s get going before shadow pokemon start showing up before we even start putting out these beacons.”

Jackson nodded as he entered and began to quickly ascend a series of staircases, the sound of his feet clanging on the metal stairs echoing through the hollow structure. As the trainer opened a door at the top of the tower that led onto the balcony he was grateful not to be afraid of heights. He was pretty high up above the ground and he could see the trainers below him. 

Atlas stepped out a little tentatively at first, looking nervous. However, some coaxing from Jackson quickly built up his confidence as he walked towards his trainer. Jackson then turned towards the light cannon. It mainly looked like a giant spotlight although it did have some more complicated mechanisms. If it wasn’t for the dangerous environment and time crunch the trainer would have loved to analyze the machine.

The trainer flipped the on switch and then triggered a flash of light which cut through the darkness to signal he was ready. He could see the trainers talk amongst themselves for a moment before they turned and began to go in different directions. Each of them was holding a light beacon as they walked. They soon reached the first spots and thrust the beacons into the ground, having to make sure they got past the sticky mud and were securely stuck in the ground.

Jackson had his hands near the cannon as he waited while Atlas looked over the edge at the process. The pokemon let out a bark as Atlas stared at an area close to one of the trainers. Jackson wasn’t entirely sure why his pokemon had barked, but considering his task he knew what he had to do. 

The trainer quickly triggered a flash of light which cut through the darkness. He could see a shadow pokemon moving quickly out of the way of the light as it scurried back into the forest. “Shit. Good job buddy.” Jackson praised his partner pokemon, who wagged his tail happily.

The trainers on the ground then walked towards the base of the tower as they peaked up more light beacons, heading further out as they stuck those in the ground. Atlas was still staring out and letting out another bark. Jackson followed his gaze and then shot a beam of light there and he heard the surprised call of a pokemon as it scurried away from the light. Before he could even fully recover he heard another bark. The trainer quickly moved the light cannon towards Atlas’ gaze, firing another shot that scared away a pokemon.

As the trainers returned to get more light beacons Atlas barked at another spot, which Jackson quickly fired a shot out. The trainer thought it seemed like the shadow pokemon had picked up the trainers’ presence. It certainly seemed like the amount of shadow pokemon was quickly increasing. As he looked down at the pile of light beacons Jackson knew there was still quite a bit of time to go.