Mission Rank: D

Reward: $50

Location: Southeastern Gate

Summary: Trainer needed for the afternoon shift to guard the Southeastern Gate. Must deal with any wild Pokémon that are spotted trying to enter the city state. Must take note of anyone that leaves the city state and report it if they do not return at the agreed time. Must make sure that no civilians exit the city without trainer escort. If any foreigner comes up to the gate, their papers must be checked, and the foreigner must be registered and given a temporary pass to enter the city state. Trainer must report to the Southeastern Gate By 2PM. Shift will end at 7PM.

***

I took the magnet train closest to station closest to the Southeastern Gate. I had 40 mins to spare so I made my way slowly. There were two trainers standing near the gate talking. I could also see two other trainers. One was sitting in a station next to the gate manning the gate controls and radio. The other one was sitting in a much smaller station on top of the wall. The one in the lookout station was facing out into the wilds and periodically using binoculars to check the area near the gate.

I walked up to the two trainers that were standing near the gate. They turned to look at me when they spotted me.

"Hello," I said. "I'm Trainer Dexter Byrne. I'm here for the afternoon guard shift."

"You're early rookie," one of them said. "We have about 20 minutes before the shift change. I'm George. I'm a B-rank trainer and in charge of our shift. This is Jack," he said as he pointed to the other trainer. "He is in charge of this shift."

"Hey," was all Jack said.

"Hi," I said.

"So, rookie," George began. "How are you liking being a Pokémon trainer so far. You completed your first mission already? How was it?"

"It went well," I said. "It was a guard patrol mission at the Public Park in District Five. We only had one small issue to deal with."

"So, you've done a guard mission already," he said. "Good." He then gave me a simple run down on what was expected and what I needed to do.

The mission was simple.

Keep track of who goes in and out. Trainers can come and go whenever they want. Civilians must have a trainer escort if they to leave. Any trade caravans, diplomats and visitors would need their papers checked, though this was done by George. Lastly, the lookout stations that are spread out at roughly one-mile intervals will need to be checked periodically in case they need help in dealing with wild Pokémon too close to the gate or too close to the wall. There were at least three in any one guard patrol.

"I haven't seen any mission requests for the lookout stations yet." I remarked.

"Not surprising," Jack said. "Those missions are usually all snatched up days in advance. They're favourite missions for the washout trainers."

Washout trainers. Washout trainers are people like Peter. Trainers who remain D-rank for their entire career. They took the easiest missions and lived off D-rank missions until they retired.

They were also looked down upon.

Most trainers did not choose this life and I could understand why so many had no desire to go up the rank. Statistically, less than a half of those who passed their Ordeals actually reach C-rank or higher.

A minute before 2PM, the other trainer finally walked up to us. He introduced himself but didn't say anything else. George checked his watch pointedly. The other trainer just shrugged.

It was finally time for our shift to start and Jack wished us luck before leaving with his subordinates. George had the other trainer take the first hour on the lookout and led me into the control station.

"Definitely a washout," George told me when we sat down in the station.

He gave me a quick tutorial on how to open the gate controls and the radio. After that we just waited for something to happen. Half an hour into the shift George used the radio to contact the lookout stations that reported to this gate station. So far, they have all reported no problems.

We had to open the gate two times before the first hour was up. Once was to let out a trainer out who wanted to go hunting with his Pokémon. The other time was to let a civilian and his trainer escort go out into the wilds. George spoke to both of them and took note of both instances.

After an hour, he sighed and motioned me to switch places with the other trainer.

I climbed up the ladder to the lookout station and sat down. There was a small radio on the lookout and a pair of binoculars. I spent the second hour staring into the southeastern wilds of Fiore. Several times, I spotted wild Pokémon near the gate and reported it to George. He opened the gate and went to deal with it himself. I had a feeling that he used that as an excuse to get away from the other trainer for a bit.

The trainer who had gone out hunting earlier came back before my hour was up. When he reached the front of the gate, I signalled down and George opened the gate to let him back into the city, but not before verifying his identity. The civilian who had left earlier with an escort did not return during my hour in the lookout. George said that if they did not return before our shift was up, we would have to report it to the mission office.

The rest of the shift passed by in the same manner. I kept switching off with the other D-rank trainer every hour. We each took 30-minute breaks halfway through the shift. I stayed in the gate control station during my break talking to George.

Occasionally we had to open the gate to let some trainers leave the city state as well as let them back in. I also went out a couple of times myself to deal with some of the wild Pokémon that we spotted near the gate. I took the opportunity to see how effective Zatanna's new Hidden Power attack was.

The first Pokémon I went out to deal with was a Bunnelby. Zatanna hit it with Hidden Power twice before it did not get back up. I walked up to the Bunnelby and saw that it was still breathing. I ordered Zatanna to kill it immediately and allowed her to eat the remains quickly before returning.

The second time I went out we spotted a lone Ekans. It must have been very young or very weak as a single Hidden Power from Zatanna killed it.

The last time I went out it was a mob of Patrats. This time I let Synin out. He eagerly picked most of them off with Fury Attack after blinding them with Sand-Attack. Those who managed to avoid that fate were unfortunately hounded by Zatanna with Pursuit, Snarl, and HP:Fire.

Very few escaped, but it was enough.

There were only two other noteworthy incidents that occurred in our shift. The first was when the civilian and his escort eventually returned an hour before the shift change. They both looked a little roughed up but otherwise okay. The second incident was when one of the other lookout stations reported seeing a flock of Spearow fly over the gate towards District Eleven.

George radioed the guard stations in that part of the city state to have them on alert if the flock landed. He also informed the mission office to be ready in case any civilians called emergency services because of Spearow attacks.

The time finally came for us to switch off with next guard shift. The other D-rank trainer took off as soon as it was 7PM, but George and I hung around for a few minutes to chat with next shift and to tell them how our shift went. After that we wished them luck and left for the mission office to report our completed missions.

We took a magnet train to the central district together. Throughout the ride we spoke about different missions that he completed and the requirements that had to be met to take the C-rank exam.

I was told that there are three requirements to be met before the Gym Leader would even consider promoting me to a C-rank, parts of which explaining as to why some have yet to be promoted despite clearly meeting the requirements to do so.

First, I would have to have at least 1-year experience.

Secondly, I need to have at least completed 128 missions, though not all had to be D-ranks.

And lastly, I needed a minimum of 2 tamed Pokémon.

Many of the serious D-rank trainers would choose to wait until they felt ready for the next rank, usually taking more than the required year to gain extra experience.

Most would also rather have the maximum number of trained Pokémon they are allowed before entering C-rank. If one or more of their Pokémon were killed during a mission leaving them with no Pokémon to take missions with or to help them capture more, then they would have to go into the wilds alone again, just like their Ordeals, to replace the ones they lost.

We continued talking until we reached the central district and went to the mission office. We waited in line until we were called forward. Once we were done with reporting our missions, we went outside where he wished me luck and said that we could work together again in the future. We split off, him to see his friends and me to the trainer district. Currently, all of us except Bradley were now D-rank trainers.

***

"Hey," I greeted Bradley.

He swivelled in his chair to look at me. "Hey," he responded cheerfully.

I stared at him for a second. "Do I even need to ask?"

He grinned and pulled out his trainer card. It had D-rank stamped on the front.

"Congratulations," I said. "How did it go?"

"Other than me being a bit nervous it went well," he said. "Schneider was busy this morning, so I had to wait until he was ready. By the time he was ready, to test me there were some higher rank trainers in the gym training. Most of them stopped to watch my exam."

"I almost failed the last part," he admitted. "The audience made Deci nervous, and he almost didn't listen to me when Schneider tested me on that part."

"You passed." I said. "That's what matters."

I sat down at the computer station next to his and logged on. I started to look at the available D-rank missions for the next few days, in particular for missions the day after tomorrow. I decided to take on the days between each mission to either rest or train. Three or four mission each week would be good enough for me to be able to rent my own place when I am able to.

Unlike myself though, Bradley wanted to accept a mission for tomorrow. He was debating on whether he should accept a mission manning a guard station in a public area where he would be reporting every 30 mins if there were any Pokémon in sight. If there were any Pokémon, he was to handle them himself or have the mission office send another trainer to deal with it.

It sounded like a very simple mission. The problem, though left unspoken, were his fears of rejection as this mission required him to head to District Nine, his old home district. In fact, the guard station wasn't actually far off from the residential building where his family lived. I might have studied Psychology once upon a time but even I knew that bottling things up weren't at all healthy.

"You should take it anyway," I advised. "Perhaps being in your old stomping grounds will give you the courage to go face your mother. You've told me that she would accept you after she had some time to get used to the idea of you being a trainer, and though it didn't quite work out for mine, you won't actually know until you speak to her."

"I guess," he said. "Fine, I'll take the mission. Once I'm done with my shift tomorrow, I'll go straight to her home to visit her and my sisters."

Once I saw him accept the mission and receive confirmation, I returned to the list of D-rank missions available for the day after tomorrow. I kept going through them until I stopped at one that caught my eye, a D-rank mission in the Agriculture District.

No sooner did we wonder when they would be here, the girls appeared bringing with them burgers and fries. We went outside to eat and Caitlyn and Vivian each told us how their first mission went.

Despite encountering some critters, Vivian's mission in patrolling Public Park C in District 7, our old home district, went off without a hitch. Whereas her mission took place in the middle-class district, Caitlyn’s mission took place in the upper-class districts, namely District 2, where a birthday party took place.

A stray Zigzagoon had interrupted the occasion but was easily dealt with by Nala. She was tipped quite nicely as thanks from the birthday boy's parents, so much so, that it was enough to buy all of us burgers, chips, and drinks.

I had no qualms given that it was free food, but it took Bradley some time to persuade.