Chapter 1
"Oi Sirius, Sirius… what kind of flying type Pokemon do they keep in the zoo?"
She could hear the quiet static of an open mic and a heavy sigh. It was all the invitation she needed.
"
Zubats." She was sure he could hear her wicked grin spreading. "Get it? Zoo-bats." She waited a few heartbeats for a response over the radio that she knew would never come before breaking out into poorly stifled snickering.
"Lock it up, Bud. For the last time, have some radio discipline and focus," came the slightly distorted, disgruntled voice of her partner through the headset. Still grinning, she raised her OD green spotting scope.
Darkness blanketed the small, run down house they'd been sent to investigate. She began scanning at ten meter intervals for movement from the street to the abandoned home. Despite her vantage point from a nearby rooftop, she could see nothing. She lowered the scope and keyed her mic.
"Sirius, what do you call a romance movie on a DVD?"
"What, Bud," he replied tersely, "What do you call a romance movie on a DVD?"
She bit her bottom lip, fighting the urge to laugh, "A luvdisc."
The unmistakable sound of someone adjusting their gear came from below, "That's it, I'm comin' up there."
"Whoops. That'll have to wait, Sirius," she shot back with a smile, spotting an eerie, blue-violet glow from the second story window of a house down the block, "We've got movement, top floor."
A frustrated groan came from below as Bailey tossed the scope back into its case. She swung her legs over the edge of the roof and slid down the ladder. Despite her considerable height, weight, and gear, her boots hit the pavement almost soundlessly. She turned to face her partner with a self satisfied grin, her free hand brushing her sandy blond hair back.
"Don't worry, Sirius, there'll be time for jokes later."
Samuel's dark eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head before he pulled his patrol cap low. "C'mon, Dante," he said, addressing the Houndour at his side.
The two humans fell into formation, rifles at the ready, with practiced ease. They approached the house with combat spacing and Dante took point, searching for an entrance.
Calling it a house was more than a little generous. What might have once been a cozy two story cottage at the edge of town now looked like a mess of broken windows and ivy overgrowth surrounded by a crumbling cobblestone wall. It seemed like the kind of place that teenagers would dare each other to spend the night in a cheesy horror flick that ended with the captain of the football team and head cheerleader making it out alive and going steady. Bailey's face scrunched up in distaste at the notion.
Dante lead the pair through a gap in the wall around the back side of the property and up to the house, brush and overgrowth screening their approach. They pressed their backs against the cold brick work, slung their rifles, and scaled the rusting metal latticework running up the side of the building.
Bailey clipped her rigger's belt and a length of paracord to the rung closest to the window she'd been scoping out. She inched her way over to peek inside, weapon once again at the ready. The corridor was mostly dark apart from the moon light spilling in and the faint glow coming from the staircase at the far end, and she could hear what sounded like a muffled voice inside. The black fatigue clad woman eased her way back towards her partner.
"Negative contacts," she whispered down to Samuel, "But it looks like there might be something down on the first floor. Someone or something is chattering in there too. We might have to speed this up a wee bit."
"Dante," said Samuel as be began climbing up after Bailey, "Head for the front door and break it down." The Houndour tore off, full speed towards the front of the house in response.
The full tang knife sheathed on Bailey's vest came out in a flash and she slid it between the dual window panes. While she worked the simple hinge lock open, Samuel keyed his mic, "Control, we've got movement and we're headin' in." Their response came back with a green light as the window was forced open and the two vaulted through, bringing their weapons to high ready.
The grating sounds of splintering wood and screeching metal mingled with screams from below. Dante.
The two ran full tilt towards the stair case with Bud on point, one hand reaching for one of the Pokeballs clipped to her rigger's belt. The scene came into focus. A teenage boy was sprawled on the living room floor beside a broken coffee table, his hands raised in defense. He sat there staring wide eyed and unmoving at the strengthening flames of three Chandelure hovering over him. Dante, covered in bits of pulverized wood, shot to the teen's side and stood with hackles raised and teeth bared, barking furiously.
"Dante! Go!"
As the Houdour rushed one Chandelure, fangs flashing white, Bailey's pokeball cleared the railing and she shouted over the din, "Blair, flank!"
With a flash of red, more than 170 pounds of Zoroark fury dropped from the second floor on top of another Chandelure and the battle began.
At that, civilian's trance was broken and he ran screaming for safety. He dove over an ancient couch, sending a plume of dust into the air. Samuel made a break for the couch as well, taking cover behind it next to the trembling young man.
"Can you hear me, sir? Are you alright?" He shook his head furiously in response.
"N-no, the b-b-basement. She's... she's still trapped in the basement!" he stuttered, a trembling finger pointing in the direction of the kitchen.
Samuel's eyes widened slightly and his head snapped up. "Bud, basement!"
"On it," she bolted from the base of the stairs, weapon up. She called over her shoulder, beckoning the Zoroark to her side. "Blair, on me!" Though looking a bit reluctant to leave the fight, the monster streaked to her side, dropping the unconscious Chandelure in her jaws. Both of them charged toward the door leading to the basement level.
Blair took point, dipping her shoulder and slamming the door clean off its hinges. She transitioned to all fours and took the stairs two at a time with Bailey hot on her heels.
Standing ankle deep in stagnant, putrid water was a cornered teenage girl swinging a cast iron poker at a crowd of Litwick and Lament. Aside from the ghost Pokemon party, something about the scene struck Bailey as being a little off. Every swing of the girl's poker grew slower as the flames burning above the Pokemon grew brighter.
"They're draining her life- Blair, night daze." The command was barely out of Bailey's mouth as Blair raised her powerful forearms, a thick crimson aura licking up her arms. She balled her clawed hands into fists, bringing them crashing down. A shock wave of water and dark energy shot out towards the mob. The creatures, now having met an actual challenge with the dark-type offensive, let out a cry of indignation and made a break for it.
"That's right, get lost you wee devils!" Bailey and Blair turned to clear the rest of the room. With the threat gone, the young woman dropped her make-shift weapon and slid along the wall into a crouch and placed her hands on her face. Bailey stooped down next to her, snapping her fingers, "Can you hear me, lass?"
The girl, looking as if she hadn't slept in a week, nodded her head slowly. "Why?" she murmured with considerable effort.
"Tch, they lured you lot in here because they wanted a few tasty souls." She turned her attention back to the Zoroark pacing through the black water, "Pick her up and we'll check on Sirius." The Zoroark gave a faint nod as it padded over to the half conscious young woman, scooping her up. Meanwhile, Bailey slowly moved up the stairs until she was at the doorway with her weapon raised. She called out, "Basement, clear!" The red, tell tale glow of pokeballs lit the far end of the house before Samuel gave his answer, "First floor, all secure! I was able to capture all those Chandelure."
"Come on then," she called back to her Zoroark. The group made for the exit, careful to step over what was left of the front door.
While they had been inside, a clean up crew had cordoned off the area and an ambulance waiting on standby near the perimeter. A fire team rushed past them and into the house to conduct a secondary sweep and round up the any stray ghost Pokemon.
The werewolf-like beast set the young woman down next to the paramedics. They began to check her over as she sat there in a stupor. As the teenage boy was led to the ambulance, their eyes locked. There was a spark of recognition that turned, rather suddenly, into what looked suspiciously to Bailey like burning anger.
"You
jerk! You left me to die!" she hollered, an accusatory finger pointed in his face.
He placed his hands on his hips, puffing out his chest, "What? No! I was going to get
help."
"Is that why you were screeching like a Golbat and pushed me towards them?!"
"Look, baby, it wasn't-"
"Don't you baby me, tool bag!"
Bailey watched the screaming match escalate with amusement dancing in her bright green eyes and an impish grin spreading across her face. She absentmindedly recalled her Zoroark.
"Uh, right… I think our work here is done, right Bud?" he asked, recalling Dante to his pokeball and making a beeline for their ride home.
"Oh aye, we'd better get back to base and all that," she answered, only half way paying attention as she joined him. She glanced over her shoulder one last time at what was most probably two newly single teens. "So much for the jock ending up with the cheerleader."
"What's that, Bud?" came Samuel, already having climbed into the driver's seat.
"Oh, I was just asking a question, Sirius. What do you call a knight from the middle ages in dragon armor?"
He slammed his door shut, she grinned.
"A dragonite."
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Division Facts: Known plainly as the Ghost Division, this unit is a part of a larger organization meant to defend humanity against Pokemon that are unusually dangerous. This division, of course, specializes in ghost type Pokemon. Operatives that work in the field are referred to as Sentinels, those who work at division headquarters or protect it are called Sentries.
