Frontline Mission #15

Jackson’s footsteps and Atlas’ paws softly hitting the ground were the only sounds that could be heard in the dark corridor. With his prosthetic leg, the trainer’s foot fall was also especially loud. He held a flashlight in his hand that he was shining down the hallway in a sweeping motion.

The trainer had come to the currently dark power plant in Brookfell at the request of some of the city’s higher ups. Earlier in the day something had caused the plant to stop producing power. As one might imagine, this was quite problematic. Most of the mines were now non-functional and with darkness soon falling the residents were starting to panic.

His partner pokemon, Atlas, remained at Jackson’s side but several of his other pokemon had spread out to help search different sections of the large industrial building. Even with the extra pokemon helping, finding the source of the problem would be time consuming.

Chompy, a blue, tan, and red totodile/growlithe fusion had gone to the left down a long hallway. Most of it was lined with doors, meaning a lot of rooms had to be checked. The pokemon trotted along to the first door, having to force it open with a tackle. The bottom hinges of the door creaked before breaking as it swung awkwardly to the side.

As the pokemon squeezed in and scanned around the room he saw rows of desks that were blocking his view. With his reptile-like tail swishing behind him he moved down each row as quickly as he could. Chompy looked under each of the desks and put his paws on the side as he peered over the top.

Jackson and Atlas had reached an open section of the building, being on a catwalk above the large space. As he shined his flashlight downwards the trainer realized that there was a series of staircases leading to the basement. This meant there was even more of the powerplant that they would need to explore.

With a sigh the trainer headed to the stairs, having to move carefully on his leg as he went downwards. Atlas’ happy mood was still presented as he hopped down the stairs next to Jackson.

Meanwhile, Mari had gone to walk down some catwalks that were overlooking sections of the power plant. Her stubby legs made some of the staircases a bit challenging as she scrambled up them, her nub tail wiggling back and forth. Once she had actually reached the top of the catwalks the pokemon was able to move around much easier.

The lappa/phanpy fusion peered downwards between the railings and up at the ceiling as she moved along, not seeing anything noteworthy. She probably had the smallest section to search out of all of them, but with her slow pace it was proving to take some time. The little pokemon was also trying to be thorough in her search.

The last of the pokemon helpers, a delta ghost turtwig named Shadow, had gone to the right. It had started out similarly to the other hallways but had machinery and different human tools lining the walls along with less rooms.

The little ghost pokemon was the most nervous out of the group of explorers. Shadow glanced around the darkness, wondering if something was just waiting to pop out from the shadows to attack him. The turtwig was still determined to succeed in the task his trainer had given him and refused to run back with fear.

After checking out the tools and machinery, not having the slightest clue as to what any of them did, he moved on to the first room. Unlike the office rooms that the others had seen this room had rows of panels and control buttons. Most of the lights were off but a few of them blinked or were a solid red color.

Shadow looked at them curiously, climbing up one of the desks using the drawer handles with some difficulty. He tapped some of the lights with his feet, tilting his head as they continued to blink. The pokemon then looked at some of the buttons. He began to smack one of the flashing ones, repeatedly pressing it as it made a soft clicking sound. Nothing seemed to be happening but the turtwig still moved on to repeatedly pressing the next button.

Jackson and Atlas were now in the basement, the air growing chilly around them. They were now in total darkness due to the lack of windows that had been present on the ground floor. The trainer’s flashlight became even more vital as he used it to take in their surroundings. Atlas’ ears were also perked up as his nose sniffed the air. With the darkness around them the noctyena was putting even more attention towards his other senses.

The trainer stopped as his flashlight shined onto a large metal door. There was a plaque next to it that probably once been a label for the room, but the words were so faded that Jackson had no idea what it said. As he attempted to open the door Jackson found that it wouldn’t budge at all. He scratched his head for a moment, wondering if maybe this wasn’t an area they were supposed to search.

“Well, it’s locked.” The trainer sighed as he looked toward Atlas. Considering their lack of dinings so far, Jackson decided they had to check out the room. “Can you knock it down with dark pulse? Just… be careful not to destroy anything else.”

The noctyena wagged his tail as he stepped forward and began to make a ball of dark energy in front of him. The pokemon made it to a considerably smaller size than he typically would before sending it flying into the door. It hit with a crash and the metal door fell straight down. It hit the ground with a loud clang that echoed through the hallway.

“Good job.” Jackson praised his pokemon as he stepped through the doorway, shining his flashlight into the room.