Mission #4

Jackson was standing on one of the streets in Grovehart, his nocytena and delta ghost turtwig at his side. The area around them didn’t match the typical environment you’d expect in the city. Much of the area had been destroyed in recent days, replacing the sleek buildings with crumbling structures. Many plants and overturned trees had created a mess in the streets and buildings. 

The trainer had come to help at the area after the Grovehart police had sent out a plea for help. The amount of damage wasn’t something they could deal with alone, and there was concern that people might be trapped in the destroyed buildings. This also added a sense of urgency among the rescue team.

Jackson began to approach the first house he reached as he walked down the road. It was one of the more heavily damaged buildings with most of the structure being gone or in a file of debris. The trainer stopped in front of the house and looked over to his noctyena named Atlas. Atlas was a light blue with a white back, underbelly, and a yellow crest on his forehead.

“Okay buddy. Can you give the area a good sniff?” He asked as he looked down at his pokemon. Atlas’ tail wagged, happy and eager to help. The noctyena lowered his nose to the ground and began sniffing all around the house. Meanwhile, Jackson and his turtwig named Shadow stood at the front of the house.

Atlas proceeded around the back of the house then soon came back to his trainer. Jackson then led his pokemon to the next house with the noctyena quickly starting to sniff around the house. His ears perked up and his sniffing intensified as the pokemon crawled into the house. 

“Be careful!” Jackson called after the noctyena. Shadow followed into the house, the branch on top of his head scraping against the wall above him. Within a few moments the pokemon were out of sight and the trainer had to trust in their abilities.

Atlas continued to lead the way as he sniffed with the delta ghost turtwig trotting behind him. The noctyena turned down a hallway and then pushed a wooden door open with a loud creak. As the pokemon entered the room they spotted a human near the corner of the room. She looked up as the pokemon entered and weakly smiled.

“Oh… hello.” She said and Atlas wagged his tail, noticing that the human’s leg was trapped under debris. The noctyena began shoving at the heavy mix of wood, metal, and stone but was having trouble getting it to budge. Shadow came over to help, using his head to push against the debris as hard as he could. Atlas backed away for a moment as he tried to think of what to do. Before he could come up with anything, the turtwig used tackle on the objects.

The structure creaked as the debris fell off the human’s leg, but they could also feel the structure shifting as it did so. With how unstable it was, getting out quickly was becoming more and more important. 

As the human moved her leg she winced in pain and struggled to get up. Atlas moved closer to her, allowing her to use him to get up. “Thank you.” She said to the pokemon as she limped towards the exit, still leaning on the noctyena. Shadow trotted ahead of them, squeezing through the opening and leaving the house. Atlas then crawled through the hole, exciting but then looking back when he noticed the human wasn’t following.

“What is it?” Jackson asked as he approached and peaked down, seeing the person who was struggling to get out. “Hold on, I'll help you!” He called out. The trainer began to carefully move some debris aside until he was able to reach her. Jackson carefully grabbed her shoulders and pulled her free from the structure.

“Hey, I need medical over here!” Jackson shouted as some nearby medics rushed over. They began questioning the woman as they wrapped her leg and prepared to transport her. Not wanting to be in the way the trainer began to move away.

“Thank you!” The woman shouted after him and Jackson waved back to her. 

“That was great guys!” He praised his pokemon as the trainer paused a bit down the street. Both of their tails were wagging, happy to be praised. Jackson pulled some treats out of his pokemon and gave one to each of the pokemon.

“Alright, we still have more searching to do.” Jackson said after they had finished eating. Both pokemon trotted after him as he went to another house, the process repeating as Atlas came forward to do a sniff search. The noctyena soon came back after not finding anything. 

The process began to repeat as they went through a few more houses with Atlas finding no scent at any of them. Even as night was nearing there were still many people working in the area. Spotlights were being set up in preparation to aid with visibility once it was completely dark.

As much as Jackson wanted to find a hotel and sleep he knew that finding everyone was a time sensitive matter. His pokemon seemed determined to keep going and he decided there was little option but to continue onto the next house.

Atlas began to circle around the house, disappearing from view for a slightly longer period of time. As the noctyena didn’t reappear the trainer began to walk towards the direction he had gone. Jackson found his pokemon sniffing at the wall and then beginning to dig at the wall.

“Help!” He heard a voice yell and with that Jackson knew someone was trapped inside the house. However, there was no clear entrance that the pokemon or trainer could use.

“Shit.” He cursed under his breath before shouting to the person. “Don’t worry I’m going to get you out of there!”

“Please hurry!” She called back, her voice tired and pained adding an even greater sense of urgency.