Pokémon Umbral ~ Ruinous Origins Mission 1, Chapter 1

[Astral Harmony]

Mission 1: Arrest the Evil Eevee Eight!

It was called the Pokémon Advanced Tactics and Counterterrorism Agency, or PATCA. However, that was relatively long ago, and people started referring to them by the emblem on the front of their stations, which varied from branch office to branch office. In the coastal Fainas Metropolis in the Honmyr region, the emblem was that of a Sharpedo so task forces who worked there were called Sharpedo Forces, something that often annoyed many of its agents. Still, Fainas Metropolis needed help to deal with the rise in crime, so many agents tolerated it for at least this long.

Rachel was on her third box of strawberry Pocky this afternoon when the announcement went off to assemble in Briefing Room 1 and called for the Watchmen, the only group who had all of its members inside the agency. Other groups were either on patrol or otherwise occupied. Rayleen, a tall woman who had probably never removed her trademark expensive and stylish heavy weather trenchcoat in her entire life was already standing before the whiteboard. Rachel entered the room so fast she stumbled and fell flat on her face. "Owwie, that was embarrassing. I hope nobody saw that."

Then Rachel rose to her hands and knees and looked up to see Rayleen gazing at her out of the corner of her eyes. "Oh, ma'am! I'm so sorry, I-"
"Just get in a seat, Princess." Rayleen sighed. She used people's callsigns even when not on a mission. Rachel seated herself and rubbed at her injured nose while anyone who arrived after her showed up and took their seats. "Okay, it seems like all of the Watchmen are here. Let's get started, shall we?"

Rayleen turned on the holographic projector and then shut off the lights so that everyone could see it easily. "This is the Bank of Fainas. Specifically, this is the Fainas Metropolitan branch, which has come under criminal control by-"
"Oh! Who're we catching this time!?" Rachel asked enthusiastically.
Rayleen sighed. "I was just getting to that, Princess. Now hold your questions until the briefing is actually over, please. Anyways, these criminals call themselves the Evil Eevee Eight."
"Didn't they just finally get out of prison?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, they did, but criminals never learn. And I thought I told you to hold all questions until after the briefing is over. Now, these lowlife thieves have been apprehended a few times already. They've never changed their lineups of Pokémon despite having been soundly defeated before. Too much pride, I suppose. However, they have changed their tactics somewhat, going out of their way to get some Rogue Pokémon on their side. They don't harm hostages anymore than they have to, so the local police tried to deal with them first. They encountered Shannon and Moon, the Leafeon and Vaporeon trainers, but were also attacked by a Rampardos and a Garchomp, which fit none of the types that the eight trainers use. Reports also stated sightings of a Yanmega, Gliscor, and a Dusknoir outside. Additionally, our telemetry scans have positively identified a Rhyperior and a Machamp inside. There may be two or even three more Rogue Pokémon that we're not able to discover."

The hologram presents 3-D models of these Pokémon and then a small mockup of the bank. "There's little to say about the bank itself. Shannon and Moon are loitering around the main entrance, preventing anyone from entering or leaving. Then you've got Evangaleen and Garus, the Electric and Ice trainers, who are positioned on the roof with the Yanmega and Gliscor. Bretton the Fire trainer watches the back alley with a Dusknoir and probably one more Rogue Pokémon that's in hiding, maybe another Bug or Poison type. Inside, there's Hector and Angelo, the Dark and Psychic trainers with Rhyperior and Machamp support. Finally, Darcen is suspected to be near the vault waiting for the manager to open it. Our scans can't get down there to determine any allies he might have, but it's likely he's not alone down there. Now, here's the data we have on the trainers specifically."

The hologram changes and presents a great deal of data on the Pokémon each of the Evil Eevee Eight gang possessed, including their types, but no knowledge on their moves. Not very helpful, but useful enough.

Evil Eevee Eight Data

Evil Eevee Eight Leader and Normal Type Trainer: Darcen (bank vault)
Pokémon 1: Eevee ~ Normal
Pokémon 2: Dodrio ~ Normal / Flying
Pokémon 3: Kangaskhan ~ Normal
Pokémon 4: Porygon-Z ~ Normal
Pokémon 5: Slaking ~ Normal
Pokémon 6: Exploud ~ Normal

Evil Eevee Eight Fire Type Trainer: Bretton (rear entrance)
Pokémon 1: Flareon ~ Fire
Pokémon 2: Ninetails ~ Fire
Pokémon 3: Rapidash ~ Fire
Pokémon 4: Magcargo ~ Fire / Rock
Pokémon 5: Camerupt ~ Fire / Ground
Pokémon 6: Magmortar ~ Fire

Evil Eevee Eight Electric Type Trainer: Evangaleen (roof)
Pokémon 1: Jolteon ~ Electric
Pokémon 2: Raichu ~ Electric
Pokémon 3: Ampharos ~ Electric
Pokémon 4: Luxray ~ Electric
Pokémon 5: Magnezone ~ Electric / Steel
Pokémon 6: Electrivire ~ Electric

Evil Eevee Eight Water Type Trainer: Moon (front entrance)
Pokémon 1: Vaporeon ~ Water
Pokémon 2: Lanturn ~ Water / Electric
Pokémon 3: Crawdaunt ~ Water / Dark
Pokémon 4: Pelipper ~ Water / Flying
Pokémon 5: Poliwrath ~ Water / Fighting
Pokémon 6: Kingdra ~ Water / Dragon

Evil Eevee Eight Dark Type Trainer: Hector (reception area)
Pokémon 1: Umbreon ~ Dark
Pokémon 2: Houndoom ~ Dark / Fire
Pokémon 3: Skuntank ~ Poison / Dark
Pokémon 4: Sableye ~ Dark / Ghost
Pokémon 5: Absol ~ Dark
Pokémon 6: Honchkrow ~ Dark / Flying

Evil Eevee Eight Psychic Type Trainer: Angelo (reception area)
Pokémon 1: Espeon ~ Psychic
Pokémon 2: Alakazam ~ Psychic
Pokémon 3: Xatu ~ Psychic / Flying
Pokémon 4: Metagross ~ Steel / Psychic
Pokémon 5: Bronzong ~ Steel / Psychic
Pokémon 6: Gallade ~ Psychic / Fighting

Evil Eevee Eight Grass Type Trainer: Shannon (front entrance)
Pokémon 1: Leafeon ~ Grass
Pokémon 2: Roserade ~ Grass / Poison
Pokémon 3: Abomasnow ~ Ice / Grass
Pokémon 4: Jumpluff ~ Grass / Flying
Pokémon 5: Shiftry ~ Grass / Dark
Pokémon 6: Cacturne ~ Grass / Dark

Evil Eevee Eight Ice Type Trainer: Garus (roof)
Pokémon 1: Glaceon ~ Ice
Pokémon 2: Jynx ~ Ice / Psychic
Pokémon 3: Walrein ~ Ice / Water
Pokémon 4: Weavile ~ Dark / Ice
Pokémon 5: Mamoswine ~ Ice / Ground
Pokémon 6: Froslass ~ Ice / Ghost

Known Rogue Pokémon
Rampardos ~ Rock (main entrance)
Garchomp ~ Dragon / Ground (main entrance)
Yanmega ~ Bug / Flying (roof)
Gliscor ~ Ground / Flying (roof)
Dusknoir ~ Ghost (rear entrance)
Rhyperior ~ Ground / Rock (reception area)
Machamp ~ Fighting (reception area)

"Lotsa evolved types, except for that Eevee," Rachel observed.
"Well, this is Honmyr. Even when I was a trainer, I never saw an unevolved Pokémon, and I went a long way before giving it up to become a Slayer."
"I'm sure unevolved Pokémon are out there, somewhere. I wonder why they're so rare in this region?"
Rayleen observed the hologram herself for a little while. "The strategy of the thieves is simple: when you start weakening one area, trainers from the other areas will reposition to reinforce that area. This suggests that dividing the team into two, one to weaken a position, and the other to penetrate into the bank using the position that is left unattended to reinforce the first position, would be the best strategy. Regardless, you should be able to deal with each enemy without endangering the hostages, which is fortunate, because there's no possible way to sneaking inside. You'll have to defeat or distract, either way through combat, all enemies outside before you can enter and stop Darcen."
"I wonder what they want?" Rachel asked more to herself.
"The vault is currently being used to protect an egg."
"An egg? A Pokémon egg?"
"I don't think anyone in their right mind would use a bank vault to safeguard any other type of egg, would you? The eggshell pattern doesn't match those of any other species. It could very well be a whole new Pokémon."
"A new Pokémon," Rachel mused. "The science community would shell out a huge ransom for its return. No wonder the Evil Eevee Eight want it."
Rayleen looked at everyone else. "If there's any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. Otherwise, consider the information you've been given and prepare yourselves accordingly."
Rachel stood up and looked serious for once. "Talk to me if you want items reserved for deployment. Your Pokémon can carry their own items but you may want me to hold something extra for switching out later. Otherwise, I'll just grab a buttload of powerful restoratives."

-----

Information

Fainas Metropolis - The largest city in Honmyr. Tens of millions of people are crammed into this city, and the pollution has made the alleys and other unhabited locales the homes of many Bug, Dark, Poison and Steel type Pokémon that can withstand the harsh environments.

Evil Eevee Eight - A gang of eight punks that use powerful Pokémon which adhere to a single type that is the same as the type of Eevee or Eevee evolution each trains. They've been arrested a few times already, but they apparently never learn. They prefer to use Pokémon battles against law enforcement to determine whether their crimes succeed or fail, and though they do take hostages, they would never harm one to any severe extent.

Unevolved Pokémon are rare - It's difficult to find pre-evolutionary stage Pokémon in Honmyr, and often Pokémon start out a lot tougher than their counterparts in other regions. Trainers who begin their Pokémon training in Honmyr find the beginning of their journey to have a steep learning curve.

[Geminex]

Impact stood, stepped away from the briefing table and started pacing. It was moments like these that he appreciated being single-minded, as he scanned the data they had, often pausing to stare into the middle distance for a moment, only to resume pacing again. He muttered as he walked: "Right... right... Ok, here's what I'm thinking. I charge the front with one support, not sure who. I'll take the liquid helium launcher, take out the Garchomp in one hit. Then I'll try to take out the grass-type trainer... Should be possible, though I might have problems with his Abomasnow. Whoever's gonna support me will need to be able to put up a fight against water, maybe with a few grass or electric moves. Fire would be helpfull as well, since you'll be able to wipe out abomasnow fairly easily. I'll take the HV rifle as my secondary, that'll help against hyperion, if it comes charging... If we do it right, we'll be able to draw off the reception area guards, that's the dark and psychic trainers, right? and pin them down too, the HV rifle will help against dark, which will hopefully allow the rest of our team to enter from the rear, ambush any reinforcements coming down the stairs and then hit anyone we're still fighting from behind. Like I said, my partner will have to be able to eliminate the water trainer quickly and then hold his or her ground against a psychic assault. We'll get hurt, but if we can hold the line then our esteemed allies should be able to come to our rescue. My only worry is the Machamp that'll probably fight us, I'm planning to use the claws as my tertiary, in case I have a chance to fight the psychics hand-to hand."
His supply of tactical rhetoric momentarily exhausted, he leaned against a wall and scanned the people that were his allies, trying to ignore the fact that some of them were what he would at best describe as "half-breeds". His eyes settled on the only other slayer on the table. He couldn't think of much practical use for him, there weren't any heavy weapons which could combat water effectively, but he did his best to meet his gaze anyway, since it was common sense: Better a less-useful human watching his back than a team of those monsters, or even a half-breed. "So... Colin, was it? You up to it? Fighting with me?" His gaze swept over the rest of his team again. "Unless anyone wants to suggest a better approach?"

((Yes, Ray is ridiculously biased. And something of an asshole. But hey, conflict is the basis of character development and storytelling. You should be thankful for all the story and character development I'm providing you with. And perhaps his views will be changed during this battle. Of course, it's more than likely that he'd slur any non-slayer paired up with him at least once during this mission, but we shall see what happens. And ridiculous bias is much more Rorschach than simple passive-agressiveness.))

[Naqel]

"Though having a battle plan is a good thing, I suggest we consider an alternative approach."
Rakald sounded slightly worried. Although he had been a part of the PATCA for some time already, he still had a lot of his youthful enthusiasm, and hoped to serve justice without using much force, especially lethal one...

With his next sentence, he faced Rayleen
"Although it's not exactly my style, it raises an eyebrow that you said we cannot sneak in, ma'am. I understand why the vault would be protected from and attempt to Dig inside, but the lobby? If it'd allow to avoid the use of lethal force I think nobody would mind if we damage some pavement."

He took a while to collect his thoughts.
If there was no obstacles, we could make a tunnel to some sort of a blind spot within the staff area or the restrooms. From there we can split ourselves so that we simultaneously approach at least some of the Eevee Eight members and eventually the rogue Pokémon. If we manage to swiftly incapacitate them by surprise, before the remaining suspects notice, we might lower their morale enough to cause a surrender.

[Menarker]

Renny peered at the pokemon match-up with a motivated interest. Combat wise, he would be excellent for the front, and going inside, he would also be useful against both the dark and psychic users. Renny mentally envisioned the combat of what he would do in the front, and things went well until he thought of his treasured pokemon flying in the air only to be intercepted harshly by the roof-top. Wide alert with this sudden realization, he chimed in.

"I think the roof-top ones are designated as cover-fire, meant to disrupt opposing types from the distance during combat."
He walked over to the board where the list of names were included.

"Evangaleen the electric type as support for Bretton's fire type if anyone uses water, as well as perhaps for Shannon's grass if anyone tries to use the flying type. Garus on the other hand would snipe out via ice those who would use grass on the water type Moon while also protecting Shannon's grass type against flying as well as protecting Bretton's fire types from rock and ground types."

Renny walked over to Rayleen, oblivious to personal space issues, his hands gesturing toward himself as if pleading his case.

"I think I'll be most suited for the roof. The front is also good too combat wise, but a few of my pokemon would be in trouble if the rooftop ones starts providing cover fire from above, so I will deal with them first with the pokemons I have. The rogue pokemon in that section doesn't cause any large issues for me either. After that, I can move as required to either the back or front as directed or as the situation unfolds. Do we have any form of long ranged communications like hand-held radio equipments that we can use to support each other?"

Renny then mumbled to himself really softly
"I guess I have to use a ground move that isn't earthquake while on the roof-top."

[Bard The 5th LW]

Charlotte had a rather enthusiastic, but impatients look on her face as she sat in her chair. She wanted to go there and tear some people apart. Her hounds have been waiting much too long.

Nevertheless, she stood by and listened to the suggestion given by her fellow teammates. After listening, she said to Rakald, "these people are in too much of a good position to actively surrender any time soon, they have approximately 55 pokemon on their side, possibly more, and it would take much too long to dig under the bank, if possible. The bank is likely to be protected from a tunnel at most venues."

After stating her opinion to Rakald, she thought about the other one, Impact. His plan didn't seem particularly bad, or extravagant. Although something that Charlotte noticed about him made her think about his plan. 'Why choose the other Slayer,' she though. 'Perhaps some paranoia,' the trainer mused, ,Maybe even fear, are you afraid of something?'

"No offense to Colin," she stated, looking at impact with a rather amused grin, "but I think I would be better suited to help you 'Impact'." She paused briefly to let her statement sink in,"as you said, we are fighting against water, my Manetric can handle that just fine, my Arcanine and Houndoom will have no problems faring against the grass types and the Ambasnow, and my Houndoom or Mightyena will hold fairly well against psychic types." He paused briefly again, to let Impact think about the logic behind it. She really didn't particularly care what the plan was, she really believed that they would best off just waltzing in and taking the foe down, but she wanted to see the man's reaction to having her give off this suggestion. She wanted to see if there was a reason he chose a slayer, or if he did it out of some personal reason. The other one Renny, could go and do whatever the hell he wanted, along with the rest of the team.

[Astral Harmony]

Rayleen pointed underneath the hologram of the bank while looking at Rakald. "It's not a bad idea, Bone Knight. There's a subway tunnel that runs directly underneath the bank. Using dig on the ceiling there would easily get you inside the bank from underneath. Still, there needs to be a distraction to the force outside. The trainers and Rogue Pokémon in reception can clearly see the trainers and Rogue Pokémon just outside the main entrance, and vice versa. The police force is still outside, but they don't have a whole lot of fighting ability. If the main entrance trainers see that the reception trainers are under attack, they'll send at least one trainer into the building to reinforce. The two trainers on the roof are keeping their eyes on the main and rear entrance trainers, ready to reinforce those groups should they come under heavy attack. The only force that wouldn't be reinforce when attacked would be the roof trainers. Fortunately, the rear entrance trainer cannot see the group inside, so digging into the building will help you avoid that confrontation. But anyone digging in will need someone to take on the main entrance trainers, and whoever does that will also need to be prepared to fight the roof trainers as well. Throw in the four total Rogue Pokémon and that's going to be one hell of a fight. The area around the bank vault is reinforced, so anyone trying to tunnel in still has to go through reception, and those trainers aren't going anywhere. For anyone tunneling in, they're the last line of defense between dogooders and Darcen."

[Menarker]

Still waiting for the answer to his question from Rayleen, Renny turned to Princess with a hopeful expression as he joyfully smiled in a greeting.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Renny. I wish you luck with the mission. Anyhow, but I have a few questions for you for the sake of the mission."

He continued talking eagerly with his hands gesturing lightly as he spoke.

"Do you have any particular policy on which group you join or how you get directed from location to location? I imagine that for a mission like this, our agents will be split up so you can't exactly be everywhere at once, so I figured that knowing how you operate might make it easier to plan the mission, taking your abilities and skills into consideration. I asked Rayleen if we would have access to long ranged communication devices, which could help you get in touch with everyone as needed. But she was a bit busy at the time I asked."

Renner took a moment to wait for a response before he asked his next question.

"And... I was wondering if I could request about 3 Chesto Berries? If I use them with a Pokemon who knows the Rest technique, they will be automatically healed to full strength, something I feel would be useful."

[Geminex]

“I would have assumed we’d just have microphones, earpieces. Standard equipment. But back to actual planning.” Impact cocked his head for a minute, stood still. "Right... so let's do it that way. Me and, say, two others, if we're going to be fighting the roof as well, we charge the main entrance, wipe out the trainers there with our two to three odds. We get attacked by whoever's on the roof, as well as one of the trainers in reception, makes three to three odds. We’ll need to focus on taking out any pokemercs quickly, since they’ll screw the odds if they get into combat. The rest of the team digs through the ground, pops up in the reception area, easily overwhelms anyone that’s left. You leave two members in the reception area, to secure it and help us if necessary, and the rest of you goes through to the vault and eliminates the normal trainer. With any luck, we’ll avoid having to fight the team in the back alley, this way, as well as securing the primary target quickly. Once the egg’s safe, you can reinforce us if we’re still fighting.” He paused for a moment. “The only problem would be the electric trainer. Assuming Colin and… Charlotte? We’ll be able to defend ourselves against most of what they throw at us, particularly if Colin takes the right weapons. I’d recommend the napalm thrower, for use against both, the grass and ice users. Perhaps the titanic fist as a secondary, that'll help against electric. And if Charlotte’s competent, I guess she’ll at the very least be able to hold off the water trainer. This might actually work. We’ll take a beating, but if we have access to items, we’ll be able to heal enough to survive, I’m guessing.” Having spoken his piece, he sat down again, staring alternately at the data and his hands, trying to feel pleased. He had come up with something. It should work. His first “official” battle against criminals, against those who would threaten society. He should feel excited.
But he didn’t. Because while he was fighting against the stain that was the existence of these monsters, he was also fighting side by side with them. And his plan, however well-thought out it was, however clever and cunning, still relied on the monsters to do what they were supposed to, to be trustworthy. Not to stab him in the back. And there was no certainty there. At best he could hope. His right hand clenched until the knuckles whitened.

[rapter200]

Isaac listened quietly not really caring much for strategy. He knew that he would either go through the rear entrance or the rooftop, it didn't matter which... though he would prefer the rear entrance. As he watched everyone else talk he noticed something strange about that Impact person. Something about him felt strange, he didn't know what it was but he knew right off the bat that he didn't like him. “Look, I can take the roof or the rear entrance, I would prefer the read entrance because the roof has ice type as well as electrics while the rear only has fire and a ghost. I can get in and smash those fire types up real good, as well as take on that Dusknoir.” He looked at everyone else while waiting for a response. In his mind all he could think about was bringing an end to these criminals. Putting them in jail wouldn't be enough, they would get out again and do something like this, all while putting others in danger. Something needed to be done.

His mind had wandered to an event that occurred about two years ago. He had hunted down the fourth or fifth thief, unlike the first three though this one was much younger, just around the age of 15. Initially this meant nothing to Isaac, but as he hunted down the rat, the conditions that he had lived through became apparent. The kid lived on his own, no parents and or Pokemon to protect him. He was hired by some shady organization to snag Pokemon, and that is how he made his living. The fact that he was there at around the same time all the others were was a coincidence. He snagged one of the Rhyhorn and than ran, afraid that everyone else would try to take his prize. The kid wasn't a bad news, just down on his luck. In-fact he never turned in that Rhyhorn instead deciding to become a Pokemon trainer, which was how Isaac initially found his trail. The kid tried to register the Rhyhorn when it was already registered to Isaac. Somehow he got away from the law, but not from Isaac.

When Isaac found the kid he decided to let the kid keep the Rhyhorn after hearing his story, up that point in time crime was very black and white to him but the kid created some sort of gray area. But this mission, well it fell into a very black and white spectrum, and the Evil Eevee Eight were definitely in the black.

When Impact spoke up again Isaac had a huge grin on his face and replied “When it comes to electric types they stand no chance against me. Their attacks have no effect at all. I imagine that I would be the best equipped for that matter.”

[Menarker]

"Are you sure?" Renny interjected warmly as if hoping that he was indeed right, but wanting to spare any mishaps.

"The rooftop consist of both Ice and Electric attacks. Those two combined are only resisted by a select few pokemon with specific dual elements, because if one is resisted, the other is either super effective or at least neutral. Since you say electrics attacks have no effect on you at all, I'm assuming you're packing a ground type attribute. You CAN handle the electric type quite easily assuming they have no fighting type moves which a few of them might have, but the ice one would make short work of you. This is why I volunteered for the rooftop, because I got two pokemons that are practically immune to both of them while also capable of handling the rogue pokemon. Magnezone is quad resistant to electric types and resists ice, while Swampert is immune to electric types, neutral to ice and got ground type and ice types moves to deal with the electric and rogue pokemons. But yes, if you got the ability to handle fire types like the one in the back alley, I'll try to keep the ice type off you.