Pokemon DPPt: The Tale of the Red Chain (Aura x Zero Sifr)

Damian Castle, newly appointed Elite Grunt, stepped in front of the classroom-like secondary mission briefing room of Team Galactic's HQ. Himself included, there were ten grunts total, pulled together by Commander Jupiter to be his agents for an upcoming mission but left to his discretion for individual and sub-group assignment. Nine teal bowl-cut adorned heads turning their eyes to him and the projected Sinnoh map behind him. Some looked nervous to take orders from a new officer, some appeared angry to have missed the promotion, and still others seemed excited to be chosen for something more than guard duty and Rental Pokémon training.

"Good Evening, Grunts." He began. Only then did he clear his throat. After all, this is his first impression as a leader, and every detail, even the projection of his voice, counts. "We have all been selected as for forward reconnaissance in Team Galactic's next mission." He looked down at the green-tinted Plexiglas clipboard he carried, more to break eye contact with the group than to refresh himself on any information. "Information at this stage is need-to-know, and what you need to know is that in groups of three, you..." he glanced back at the clipboard again, this time to doublecheck his information. "... we are assigned to scout each of the three Great Lakes of Sinnoh in search of any unusual lifeforms or artifacts in the lakes themselves or the cave island located at each lake. This is not a capture mission or anything that should require putting yourselves in any danger, though you will be armed with Pokémon either of your own training or of Team Galactic's armory." This is tougher than I thought. I wonder how Mars does these so easily. "Are there any questions so far?"

 

"I have the full intention of accompanying one of the groups. All three will deploy simultaneously to avoid Park Rangers getting unnecessarily worried about our investigations. Of course, they have no need to be suspicious. Our goals with Team Galactic are nothing short of noble." Damian coughed, in hindsight hoping not to seem doubtful of his own words. "To more directly answer your question, we're trying something new here. Contrary to how the Commanders assign grunts into groups arbitrarily, I'm trying something fresh. We all know each other: our strengths and weaknesses and cooperations, so I convinced Mars to let this mission be performed by self-chosen groups." He said, smiling for being the bringer of an improvement to the Team, and glad to see several pairs of high-fives and fist-bumps collide in the room. "We're still trying to find what works best, so our first method for deciding groups is classic Schoolyard Picks. Three "Team Captains" will take turns choosing teammates until no more remain or you decide for a smaller group of two or three. Could I have Grunts Stone, Idomi, and Sun take the front of the room." He said, taking one of the newly vacated seats of the briefing room. "Anyone is fair game. Make your picks."

 

Damian sat at his classroom desk, looking forward at the three triads ready to take on the experimental mission. "You've all chosen your teams?" He asked, getting an affirmative nod from each and every group leader. "That feeling," he said to himself loudly enough for the other to hear. "When you get picked last."

"Waitwaitwaitwait!" Grunt Stone said. "It's my turn to pick next, right? Elite Grunt Castle, I choose y--"

"Actually, I like how this turned out." He intercepted. "I get to take my pick now. You three already made your choices after all." He propped both elbows up on the desk, interlocked his fingers, and rested his chin on his knuckles, looking over each group. Stone's group had figurative manpower on their side, but maybe too much. It may be best to let the potentially rowdy boys club define their own level of responsibility. Similar for Sun's group of girls, though some of them may have, on average, more self-control than the boys, it may be interesting to see how something as simple as gender lines can influence group behavior among both squads. Idomi's squad, on the other hand, already can't be used for an experiment like that. And the girl herself is just about due for some evaluation. After all, it would be better to measure her strengths in the field than in the training rooms. "Idomi, do you have room for one more?"

 

"Another good question. Thank you, Amai. Erm, Idomi. The lake assignments were mostly decided at the same time as group leaders were selected." Damian looked back to the mission pre-briefing clipboard. "Stone, your team is Blue, you are assigned to Acuity. Dress warmly. Sun, your team is Red, you're traveling to Verity, near Twinleaf Town. Try to stay on your guard. Professor Rowan owns the Lake privately and has aggressively defended it in the past. Don't underestimate him. Idomi, our team is Green, we're going to Valor." He lowered his voice to speak just to his three squad-mates. "Sunyshore city is beautiful this time of year. Also, you're welcome." He stepped away from Green Team to better address the entire group. "We're all leaving at sixteen-hundred hours. You have fifty minutes to gather your Pokémon from your dormitory, PC, or the Galactic Armory; as well as gathering any extra equipment you may need. Blue Team. Blue Team?" He repeated. "Grunt Stone!"

"Yeah boss?" The boy said, breaking away from his team's playful shoving and pushing.

"I'm not your boss. I am, however, responsible for your safety. Dress in layers. Snowpoint will be in the negative ten-to-twenty Celsius this evening. If you or anyone else on Blue Team returns to base with so much as a case of the sniffles, I will see you personally reprimanded for introducing communicable diseases into our community. I will not have your bad decisions reflecting on me or harming our comrades. Am I understood?"

"Sir!" Stone and the remainder of Blue Team shouted, now at full attention.

He turned his attention to Idomi with a smirk and an expression of because-that's-how-I-roll. "This concludes briefing." He said to the complete group. "You are all dismissed. Sixteen-hundred hours. Departure Bay 2. Be there." He let the rest of the group file out first, an act he had seen since grade school and as recently as his last briefing under the lead of an official Commander.

 

"Oh for the last time, I'm not a Command--" Damian started before turning. "Oh, Idomi? I'm sorry, I thought you were Sun. Sometimes I think she goes on that misinformation just to get on my nerves." He continued, somewhat distracted by the agent's sudden change in hairstyle and clothing. "Getting all fueled up and ready for the mission? For a moment there I thought you were more interested in your cheesecake than in than what incredible mysteries and untold wonders we're hoping to find at Lake Valor." He said with dramatic over-enthusiasm, though not without genuine excitement beneath the act. He brought the coffee cup up to his face, inhaled deeply through his nose, blew away an instantly-regenerating cloud of steam, and took an infinitesimally small sip of the drink, almost like a mechanical habit.

 

What was that about? Damian wondered with a smile and a laugh, leaving the cafeteria through a different hall, with hot beverage in hand and a wrapped pastry in the pocket of his standard issue sport jacket. Keep your head in the game, D. Big day today.

"Grunt Castle. How are your preparations coming along?" It was Commander Jupiter, approaching from the opposite direction of the hall. He must have been thinking about Amai, and thinking hard, because he didn't notice her at all until they were already within speaking distance. She narrowed her eyes as she looked him up and down, some unspecified emotion -- resentment, perhaps -- reading off her face.

"Commander Jupiter." He said, standing straight-spine and at attention, heart racing at upwards of 120 bpm. He tried his best to stand at a respectful posture, but a snack stowed in one pocket and a hot beverage hand made even that simple task difficult. "Good evening. Preliminary briefing went smoothly. I have the utmost confidence in my agents to exceed expectations for the coming missions."

"I'm sure." She said with a hollow smile that belied more sarcasm than vocal inflection ever could. "I'm not so much worried about them. Grunts are grunts, after all, they can all do what we need them to, or else they wouldn't be here." She took another step closer, denting inward on what should be a bubble of personal space. "It's when a grunt begins to think he's more than a grunt that I come to be concerned."

"Ma'am." Castle began. "I will exceed your expectations, as well as the expectations of your fellow commanders." He became aware that he was petrified, that he hadn't blinked at all during the confrontation. "There is no doubt in my mind."

"Yes, about my fellow commanders." Jupiter said, taking yet another step closer. Her breasts were mere inches from his chest, and her breath, carrying the scent of rare-cooked meat and zero-proof wine, filled his nostrils. "I don't know what Mars sees in you. You're a grunt at the top of your class, but you are still a grunt, no matter your scores. I don't care how many pullups you can do or how fast you run two miles, and by Arceus I sure don't care that you can beat Saturn in a battle when the odds are stacked in your favor. What I do care about is the fact that the entire foreseeable future of Team Galactic relies on the outcome of this mission. If it were up to me; Mars, Saturn, and I would take each Lake individually and without any grunts to slow us down."

Damian pondered his next move. The risk was high, but so was the potential benefit. "With all due respect, Commander Jupiter, it's not up to you. His Ascendancy Sir Cyrus chose Commander Mars, and Commander Mars chose me. If you have a problem with that, take up the chain of command, not down." The timing would be perfect for a snarky victory-sip of coffee, but he was still frozen in her presence, maybe by fear. Instead, he did his best to keep a straight face despite playing Jupiter at her own game and maybe signing his own death warrant.

Jupiter's facial expression changed from distrust and resentment to some twisted form of satisfied pride, as if she was pleased to be part of the aggressive verbal exchange. Only then, trying to comprehend Jupiter's reaction, did Damian realize her eyes were the same purple as her hair, despite showing no ring of contact lenses around her irises. "The eyes of the Team are on you... Elite Grunt." She said, inflecting 'Elite' with bitter distaste and 'Grunt' with a spike of arrogance that almost manifested as a growl. She walked past him to an unknown destination, leaving the faint aroma of blue steak to fill her vacuum.

He stood there in the hallway for at least a minute, sidestepped by other Team members of varying branches and ranks, disappointed in himself for how he allowed Jupiter to shake him. On the way to his dorm room, he dumped his almost-full coffee into a drinking fountain and walked quickly the rest of the way to his chamber. He opened the door to see Nix curled like a Meowth in a spot of window sunlight on his bed, and Don Gero plucking one of his claws into a toy, either grooming or sharpening the nail. "Wake up you two." He said, tossing the pastry out of his pocket and onto his desk. "We're rolling out of here on the Lake mission in five. I want us to be the first ones in the departure bay, you got it?" He asked, each of the Pokémon replying affirmatively, but not changing their current lack of activity. He then sat at his small desk, flipped open a tiny laptop, and skimmed his personal email account. "Nothing yet." He muttered before closing the lid. His appetite was effectively banished by the confrontation with Jupiter, but he knew from experience that hunger would distract him and being low on calories would weaken him, so he choked down the food as best he could. No matter how harshly she put it, Jupiter was right. Team Galactic's eyes were watching him, and every move would count. He turned back to his two lounging Pokémon. "Three minutes. Be ready." He worked the finishing touches before the mission. Checklist of his bag and equipment belt, ensured the charge of his communicator, and fixed the ridiculous haircut Galactic imposed on their officers. "Why can't we dress like ordinary Sinnoans?" He said, straightening the fin of his otherworldy green fauxhawk. "It works just fine for Aqua and Dim Sun." He wiped a stray smear of the pastry's filling from the corner of his mouth, recalled the two lounging Pokémon into their balls, and left the dorm room in the direction of the Departure Bays, mind pulled in four directions. Commander Jupiter, Grunt Idomi, the never-arriving email, and the upcoming mission all held a rope, stretching his mind in all directions. A wall-mounted clock told him that at this rate, he would be among the first of the ten Agents to arrive at the bay, unless some others were as eager to impress as he was.

 

"No, no, don't worry about that. It's probably the haircut. A lot of the newbies think there's only bowl-cut Grunts and crazy-haired Commanders with nothing in-between." He ran his his middlefinger tip along the ridge of his shark fin hairdo. "I almost wish they let me keep that goofy bowl-cut. No offense. The thing is, I just started in this promotion, and I'm already feeling the stresses. Last time I led any kind of a group was in high school, and that was just a history project on ancient Sinnoan spirituality, easy project since the ancient stuff is all mostly forgotten anyhow and they had low standards. I had ten percent of my grade riding on that, but now? Now I have the safety of ten Galactics, the two of us included, riding on my shoulders, and it seems like Jupiter won't let me forget it." He slid both hands into his pockets and looked to the floor, shaking his head no as if trying to dislodge a negative feeling stuck in his brain. He took a quick and therapeutic breath in and out before before taking a seat beside Amai on the crate. "All I can do now is prove myself, right? Anyhow, speaking of high school... well, I don't mean to pry or force a change of subject, but how long have you actually been with Team Galactic?"

 

The tug-of-war pulling Damian's mind apart somehow seemed more settled than when he left his dorm room. He knew, in a tucked away part of the back of his mind, that everyone has their own little tragedy, some kind of hardship that has sculpted who they are more than the positivities of their upbringing, the pains or discomforts that push us away from the past and to the future almost as much as do our dreams and ambitions. That little cross-sectional view into Amai's life made her seem more real, more tactile than many other Galactic agents seem, and he couldn't help but to feel some connection with her. Camaraderie at the very least, but almost definitely something deeper and more corporeal than that. Some kind of reflex within him wanted to demonstrate this realization, but nothing seemed appropriate with the arrival of his co-workers. It may have already been bad enough to be caught in a soul-revealing chitchat between superior and subordinate without taking it a step further.

He straightened his posture and counted the group before addressing anyone. "Onetwothree, fourfivesix, seveneight, and we are nine and ten." He cleared his throat before actually addressing the group. "I'm glad everyone showed up. And with eight minutes to spare. To reiterate and re-brief: we are deploying by helicopter, in three groups, to the Great Lakes of Sinnoh. Grunt Sun, you and your Red Team are deploying to Verity; Grunt Stone, you and your Blue Team are deploying to Acuity. I'm glad you took my warning seriously, you chose your equipment well. The health and safety of Team Galactic is our first priority." I hope. Jupiter sure seemed to disagree with that, since apparently there is a lot riding on this mission. "And Grunt Idomi, you and Green Team are going to Lake Valor, accompanied by me. Though we are splitting into three groups, we have the same objective. We are looking for anything hidden or unusual. Observe and report; do not capture and do not steal. The insertion-extraction helicopter will be waiting in the nearest city, Jubilife, Snowpoint, or Sunyshore, until you call them on your radio to request extraction."

He went on to distribute a digital camera, local topographic map, and radio communicator to each group leader; explain his standards for what kind of evidence would satisfactorily prove there was nothing of interest at the Lake; and reiterate to each member just how important the mission would be.

"I spoke to Commander Jupiter on the way here." He began, carefully choosing his words to omit any vendetta or other negativity the Commander had toward him. "This mission is more than just a dry run of a new agent-grouping method, and by no means is it just a practice mission or experiment. This mission is the first real step in Team Galactic's next plan, our most ambitious plan yet." Behind the crowd of agents and on the other side of an open door, Commander Jupiter walked by, stopped to look at him with her icy eyes, and proceeded on her way. "If this mission does not go off without a hitch, I cannot guarantee any of us will still be part of Team Galactic this time tomorrow. Do your best, complete your mission, and make Team Galactic proud, and none of us should have anything to worry about. That said, Team Galactic, move out!" And at his command, the three groups filed out the rear door of the departure bay to the idling choppers, cloaked in the yellow glow of an oncoming sunset. Once inside the helicopter, he took the sideways and inward-facing seat beside Amai and across from the clingy other two agents as the pilot performed final checks. He tried to pull his mind away from the thanks and reciprocity he needed to give Amai for her openness and from the threats he got from Commander Jupiter after the first briefing, but could somehow only distract himself with regret for not finishing his coffee. The mind works in mysterious and stupid ways.

 

Damian laughed, a contained, almost nervous, but still genuine laugh. "Thanks. I needed this." He said as he tugged on both fringes of the wrapper, spinning the candy and unraveling the paper at once. He popped the little ball of sugar and flavoring into his mouth, savoring the taste as the texture eroded from rough into an acid-polished smooth. He rolled the candy back and forth on his tongue, reluctant to bite it and reduce its lifespan. As the hard candy dissolved, Damian looked across the passenger cabin of the helicopter at the other two members of Green Team, a young man and woman who clearly knew each other quite well. They poked and prodded and tickled at each other, entirely oblivious or uncaring to the fact that their direct supervisor was sitting a few feet away from them. Past them and visible from the other side of the helicopter, he could see the mountain that contained the Solaceon Ruins swimming by through an ocean of trees, and wondered why Team Galactic bothered gassing up a third helicopter when the lake is less than an hour's drive away in an ordinary vehicle.

"I hate to admit this." He said, drawing his focus back to Amai and away from the other Greens. "I really am nervous today. I've been doing this for a year but, like I said, I saw Jupiter after the first briefing. She's got me doubting myself, you know what I mean? Trying to say every one of us, myself especially, is unqualified and she'd rather do this herself. I've done good work here. I've earned my position. But she just..." he scratched the side of his head and twisted his face to reflect a bitter confusion. "She digs her way into my head with her bad ideas." He looked to the Green Team leader, her expression a soft and genuine concern. "I don't mean to dump all this on you. I just needed to vent it out a little bit. Maybe it helps me clear my head, figure out a remedy."

 

"What we're going to do first..." He stamped his foot on the floor of the chopper to get the attention of the other two Greens and raised his voice to project his speech over the noise of the aircraft. "First off, we have the advantage of being in a group of four. That said, we can split up and still be in groups to watch each other's backs." He considered, for a moment, how to split the groups. The other Greens seem like they may be the type to wander off and distract each other, a less-than-ideal event for the mission. On the other hand, splitting up their group would mean splitting up with Amai too. It would by hypocritical to say he didn't also have his own preference of partner. It just came down to keeping a professional and favorable image when stating his decision. "I see you two clearly have a good foundation of teamwork already." He said to win points from the other two agents. "You two will be on surveillance and backup. Either begin a patrol on foot around the lake or set up a nest, and either way, you keep an eye out for us. Team Galactic doesn't need another run-in with the Rangers. Meanwhile, Am..." Watch it, D. Some of the higher-ups might find a problem with that. "Grunt Idomi and I will head directly for Valor Cave for the primary objective."

The helicopter stopped over a stony clearing atop a hill in the forest and lowered almost to ground level. Damian and the male grunt, the two tallest of four Greens (perhaps with other reasons on the side), exited first, each helping their respective partner from the helicopter. Suddenly, in the shade of the dense forest and the comparative quiet of the departing aircraft, it was no longer sunset, but nighttime under an orange sky. The calls of Kricketot and Zubat held the silence at bay as a sense of isolation overtook the group.

"Idomi, I just remembered." Damian began. "You are the Green Leader, not me. On behalf your Green Team, I report that we are ready for orders to proceed to our objectives." He stood in the at-ease position, hands folded behind his back looking calmly eager for orders.