Mission #2

Jackson could hear a pinging noise as he sat in his apartment. The sound woke up Atlas, his partner pokemon, who was asleep on the floor. The noctyena arched his jaws in a wide yawn and stretched his legs forward. The trainer picked up his nearby phone, seeing a video notification from the Grovehart Police. He grew nervous, wondering if it was something related to his dealings with criminals. As a way to make money he often sold and fixed electronics for sketchy clientele. Thinking about this he immediately opened the video message.

“Hello, I am the Chief of Police here in Grovehart, and I’m sending this message to trainers who have proven themselves capable.” Jackson immediately felt a sense of relief since this didn’t seem to be tied to his criminal activities. “Some of the city is in a rather dire state. The damage caused by The Guardians is even worse than we thought.” The chief continued to explain, his voice sounding slightly defeated.

Jackson tapped his fingers as the video continued, thinking over the chief’s words. “We need your help. Please report to our headquarters and we’ll be able to find a place where you can help. There will be a reward.” He finished explaining and the video showed the police force’s logo before fading away.

The trainer may have been on the fence but he was now grabbing items to put in his backpack. The promise of reward was definitely enough to sway his mind. Atlas got to his paws, tail wagging as he realized they were going somewhere.

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A short time later the trainer and Atlas were stepping off the bullet train at Grovehart’s station. The station seemed to be even busier than usual and Jackson guessed that some people were probably trying to get out of the city. It was, currently, in a rather chaotic state.

Atlas followed beside his trainer as they wove through the crowd until they were finally able to exit the station. The city streets were still somewhat busy but weren’t nearly as crowded or cramped. This part of the city didn’t reflect the dire state other areas were in. Clean looking buildings lined the streets with foliage covering them and various plants being planted by the streets.

Jackson began to head towards the police headquarters, soon finding the large building. As he stepped inside the scene was rather chaotic and busy. Officers were rushing around, some of them speaking on electronic devices or looking at information. 

The trainer walked up to the front desk, waiting for a few minutes until the receptionist had a chance to speak to him. “Hi, what can I help you with?” She asked, sounding tired and stressed.

“Uh yeah, I got a message from the chief? I don’t know, he just said to come to headquarters.” Jackson explained and the receptionist nodded before calling out to a nearby officer. The officer that came over wasn’t the chief, but certainly walked with a sense of authority. 

“I’m so glad you’re here to help. We definitely need all the assistance we can get. Tell me, what are the kinds of things that you’re good at?” The officer asked.

“Uhm… I don’t know. I have pokemon, and I can work with electronics.” Jackson answered, a little caught off guard by the question. He hadn’t really put any thought into how specifically he could help. The officer nodded thoughtfully before motioning another officer over. They talked amongst themselves for a moment before the other officer came over to Jackson, a growlithe/pikachu fusion following behind him.

“I’ll take you over to where we’re searching for people. I’d assume that noctyena of yours has a good nose.” The officer said as he looked down at Atlas, who wagged his tail.

“Oh yeah he can sniff out anything.” Jackson said as he ruffled his pokemon’s ears.

“Well follow me then, it is going to be somewhat of a walk.” The officer said as he began to exit the building. Jackson followed after him, thinking his leg was probably going to be hurting quite a bit by the end of their walk.

The officer certainly hadn’t been lying about it being a “quite a walk” from the headquarters towards the city outskirts where there was more damage. If anything, Jackson thought he had under exaggerated the amount of walking involved. By the time they got there the trainer had to sit down for a few moments. Atlas still seemed to have plenty of energy but laid down at his trainer’s feet.

The officer that had led them there went to talk to a few members of the police force that were standing together. They talked amongst themselves while Jackson tried to catch his breath and wait for the aching in his leg to dull. Once he was done speaking with the others the officer came back towards Jackson.

“Alright, I talked to them and you can start going through those houses over there. Pretty much that entire street needs to be searched.” He explained as he motioned towards a row of houses. The buildings had either partially collapsed or were looking on the verge of it. There were people moving around the buildings but there still didn’t seem to be nearly enough.

“Okay, I can do that.” Jackson said with a nod as he turned and began to head towards the houses. Atlas eagerly followed after him, looking around with curiosity. The trainer was glad his pokemon seemed enthusiastic currently since it would be a long day of sniffing through the buildings. Compared to his pokemon Jackson wasn’t doing much work. 

“Oh, I know who can help.” The trainer said as he paused to take a pokeball out of his backpack. He then threw it on the ground and a turtwig appeared in front of him. Being a ghost type this turtwig had a stick on its head instead of a leaf and had a purple coloration. “If you find somewhere that needs to be searched but can’t fit he should be able to.” Jackson said to Atlas.