Chapter 53

Tap tap tap*

"Is this thing on?" "Ehem, hello everyone! My name is Blaine the Cinnabar Island Gym Leader. I thank you all again on behalf of the inhabitants of the island for accepting our request." Blaine looked no different from the anime. He was still wearing his usual scientist coat but upon closer inspection, Leon identified that it also functioned as a type of combat suit with very high fire resistance.

Pokemon Gym Leader Blaine gave a general explanation. Contrary to what was shown in the games and anime, Cinnabar Island was pretty colossal. Its land mass was comparable to Singapore's. In the northwest corner of the island facing Route 21, a large volcanic area covers nearly one-fourth of the surface. The city was situated northeast of the center while the entire south side was still untouched and filled with lush vegetation, though some villages near the coast thrived on fishing.

They were fortunate that the Pokemon Horde would first land near the shoreline in the southwest corner, where a fortress already stood. Although the Pokemon Horde had a terrain advantage since they were near the ocean, it could not be helped. The Cinnabar Island Gym was understaffed and lacking in numbers. A skirmish of this scale would also decimate the forest if they fought there. It would destroy a lot of the pokemon nests residing in that area making them uninhabitable, so where would the stranded pokemon end up? To a volcanic area? Probably not. They would probably head towards the other side of the jungle destroying the ecosystem or worse head towards the city and attack the human inhabitants. Thus, Blaine decided to engage near the coast.

As part of the mission briefing, all Pokemon trainers were temporarily given a city defense badge to serve as a safe and secure means of communication for them during the battle.

Leon bid Mark and Woody farewell. Those that were stationed at the Command Center had a different strategic meeting and would be led by Blaine's third-in-command. Those who were going to fight on the front lines stayed. Pokemon Gym Leader Blaine would be the one to lead them accompanied by his second-in-command.

Their briefing was short; the first group, called the Sword team, was allocated to the front lines along with their pokemon, they would be evenly distributed by platoon, and wait for further instructions. Those at the command center, the Shield team, would be tasked with sending out their pokemon spread throughout the wall. They would unleash attacks that would devastate the approaching horde from above. In an event where the walls would fall or depending on the command, the Sword team would be sent out to the surrounding area to either attack or defend.

The first group would be comprised of ten platoons. Ultra-Class Ranked trainers would lead a platoon of five squads of Great-Class Ranked trainers. Leon would be assigned to a group of Great-Class trainers from a squad of three.

Blaine would engage the Pokemon Horde leader as soon as he found him, to end the battle quickly. When the leader died the Pokemon Horde would usually dispel so it was the common tactic, but as the Pokemon Horde grew in size the stronger the leader was and the more difficult it was to take it down.

The Sword team had nothing to do unless the fortress was breached, or when it was time for clean-up. Some trainers expressed their happiness. They were given free rewards for doing nothing. Though Leon thought differently, he had a feeling that the Pokemon Horde was threatening.

They headed towards the fortress after being briefed, knowing that the attack would happen within two to three days so they still had time. They used a portal inside the gym to travel directly to the stronghold. The modern-looking fortress was huge. It was shaped like a pentagon, surrounded by walls about 50 meters tall and 30 meters wide built to accommodate large pokemon. It had one energy-based turret stationed at each corner. The turret was strong enough to severely injure a low S-rank pokemon with each shot but it could only fire once every two minutes. The Command Tower was twice as tall as the fortress walls and was 20 meters in diameter, located in the heart of the fortress. The stronghold had a teleport jamming device installed to prevent opposing psychic-type pokemon from being teleported inside the fortress or within a specific distance. Only one powerful psychic pokemon called "Pokemon Psychic General" had the authority to use teleport within their area of responsibility for tactical purposes during the battle. The Pokemon Psychic General or Pokemon General for short also had ranks which Leon would read later when he had time.

After the orientation, they were told to get familiar with their new squad members and platoons before they could return and rest. They would be notified through the badge when the time came.

Leon met his two newly hired squad mates right after. One of them was a tall and chonky guy, around 25 years old, 6 feet tall. He had tanned skin, short, wavy hair, and black eyes. He was wearing a Pikachu-designed onesie made with Electivire fur together with combat boots and spiked knuckles made from Steelix steel. The other person beside him was as tall as Leon, who also looked to be 25 years old. He had an athletic build, short, spiked black hair, and brown eyes. His brown and white suit looked like the type of armor a mercenary would wear in addition to an Eevee hoodie. It was made from Eevee fur and had many different modes. He seemed to use guns crafted from Scizor claws as his weapon seeing two handgun holsters at his side.

"We were just about to look for you," said the Chonky guy. "My name's Edward Casanova but you can call me EC for short. This is my friend Arvin Sean Solace. You can call him..." Arvin slammed his fist into EC's face before EC could finish the sentence. He just took the punch head-on barely flinching. He boisterously laughed after the punch.

Leon shook hands with both of them after he introduced himself as he tried not to laugh at the joke. They were not surprised to see a student partaking in a B-rank mission and joining their squad. They came from such academies themselves and knew that those that were allowed to patriciate in such a dangerous mission were monsters.

EC was a Pikachu Fanatic; his team was composed of all Pikachu. Arvin on the other hand was an Eevee Fanatic. His Pokémon team consisted of Eevee, Jolteon, Flareon, Vaporeon, Umbreon, and Espeon. All of their pokemon were in stage B low to mid-range, and they were Great Class trainers. Leon told them about his pokemon team and the three quickly made their squad strategy.

EC would act as the vanguard. He had the strongest firepower of the squad since all his pokemon had the type advantage. Arvin would adjust. He could fight in close combat or shoot from a distance with his pokemon depending on the situation. Leon would stay at the rear supporting both of them and filling any gaps if necessary. The platoon leader would observe from the rear and only step in when they had to. The five squads under him would follow their command.

They practiced some basic formation to improve team synergy the following day to prevent any mishaps. On the third day of their arrival on Cinnabar Island, they were given the order to rally at midnight. The scouts detected movement from the horde. The Pokemon Horde's leader was smart enough to attack at the cover of the night when the sun was still slumbering. All teams headed straight for the fortress; the Pokemon Horde was finally approaching.