New Fizz City: The Metropolitan Zone

[TheKnightsFury]

blu3shift- Having ignored your Pokedex until now, you're surprised to find some valuable information on it once you open it up. It confirmed a few things you already suspected, like Porygon tracing Trubbish's Stench ability and the second Rattata possessing the Guts ability. It also informed you that upon leveling up, Porygon had learnt a new move, Psybeam. The Psychic type attack was somewhat of a surprise, but it was certainly helpful as relying on Tackle was starting to feel a tad redundant. You felt a little uncomfortable using the newly acquired move, but it was really only natural for a Pokemon to get stronger by battling.

Epoch follows its new orders, preparing its new attack for the first time. It gathers energy at the point of its nose before firing a beam of glistening psychic energy at the Rattata. The attack causes the Rattata to issue a pained screech as it proves to be quite effective, likely helped by Trubbish's Acid Spray lowering the Rattata's special defense. If it wasn't obvious to start with that the Rattata were looking for an easy win, it is now as the second Rattata realizes that sticky around just isn't worth the hurt. It quickly rushes off in the same direction as its friend. With both of its attackers now gone, Trubbish can finally go about its business in piece. It happily continues to consume the garbage, completely ignoring your presence. It didn't seem to pose a threat to you or Epoch and it was cleaning up some of the garbage, maybe you should just let it be?

Trubbish couldn't clean up all this mess though, even a Garbodor would struggle to scoff all this down. You'd have to get to work now. It wasn't as simple as collecting all the rubbish and dumping it in the skip bins either, you'd have to sort out all the recycling. Perhaps there was an easy way to identify what needed recycling?

 

[blu3shift]

blu3shift- Having ignored your Pokedex until now, you're surprised to find some valuable information on it once you open it up. It confirmed a few things you already suspected, like Porygon tracing Trubbish's Stench ability and the second Rattata possessing the Guts ability. It also informed you that upon leveling up, Porygon had learnt a new move, Psybeam. The Psychic type attack was somewhat of a surprise, but it was certainly helpful as relying on Tackle was starting to feel a tad redundant. You felt a little uncomfortable using the newly acquired move, but it was really only natural for a Pokemon to get stronger by battling.

Epoch follows its new orders, preparing its new attack for the first time. It gathers energy at the point of its nose before firing a beam of glistening psychic energy at the Rattata. The attack causes the Rattata to issue a pained screech as it proves to be quite effective, likely helped by Trubbish's Acid Spray lowering the Rattata's special defense. If it wasn't obvious to start with that the Rattata were looking for an easy win, it is now as the second Rattata realizes that sticky around just isn't worth the hurt. It quickly rushes off in the same direction as its friend. With both of its attackers now gone, Trubbish can finally go about its business in piece. It happily continues to consume the garbage, completely ignoring your presence. It didn't seem to pose a threat to you or Epoch and it was cleaning up some of the garbage, maybe you should just let it be?

Trubbish couldn't clean up all this mess though, even a Garbodor would struggle to scoff all this down. You'd have to get to work now. It wasn't as simple as collecting all the rubbish and dumping it in the skip bins either, you'd have to sort out all the recycling. Perhaps there was an easy way to identify what needed recycling?

"...Whoa."

That was the only thing that a dumbfounded Elijah could say as he watched Epoch fire off a Psybeam at the remaining Rattata, the latter scurrying away after it realized that sticking around to harass the Trubbish was absolutely not worth the effort of trying to hold itself up in battle. He'd come out on top, even if it was a bit of a hollow victory—a far cry from his mild distaste for Pokémon training just a few months earlier, which made his win all the more sweeter. The long road ahead of Elijah seemed shorter as he watched Epoch return to him, realizing that he had a knack for battling that he didn't have.

Basking in his own light didn't really help anything right now though except for his mood. Like he'd been reminding himself throughout the fight, there was a ton to clean up, and not a lot of time to do it in. The Trubbish that he spent the past while defending had happily returned to shoveling waste in its mouth, which looked like it could help, but that hardly made a dent in the sheer amount of trash lying around. Elijah looked over the tools that he had brought from the shed once again. It was obvious what the gloves were for, so he put them on immediately. He could probably use the rake to pull together piles of trash, and the shovel to scoop them in the wheelbarrow, which he would then wheel over to the closest empty trash can he could find so that he could dump all of it in there... if there were any. Elijah looked around for something that he could use, spotting a massive dumpster at the maintenance shed that he got the supplies from right next to... one for recycling...

...Right. There was probably a whole bunch of stuff to be recycled, too. How was he going to figure that out quickly? Sorting through all the trash just to make sure that everything goes into the proper one wasn't easy, and the fact that he had to do a lot of it in addition to the two other tasks on his to-do list wasn't helping. He'd have to figure out how to easily single out everything that could be recycled, and throw it in the right container, like a living computer...that he just so happened to have, actually!

"Alright Epoch, here's our new game plan. I'm going to go get those dumpsters from over there—" he pointed to the maintenance shed "—and then I'll dump some trash in this wheelbarrow to put in them. Can you figure out what I should recycle from it every time I fill it up and put it in the one for recycling?"

 

[TheKnightsFury]

blu3shift- You decide to let Trubbish continue to feast, every bit of rubbish it consumed was less for you to worry about after all. There was plenty to go around though and you now had to deal with the monumental task of sifting through it all. You pull on the rubber gloves as you prepare to get to work, explaining to Epoch how you'd go about the task. You head over to the dumpsters by the maintenance shed and attempt to pull them. Unfortunately you lack the strength to move them more than an inch as the wheels don't exactly like moving in the long grass. A shame, bringing them closer to the rubbish would've made life a bit easier. Fortunately you still had the wheelbarrow. Heading over to the closest collection of trash, you grab the rake and pull it into a pile. Epoch then throws himself into the pile, his programming somehow allowing him to determine which items could be 'recycled'. You load up the recyclable items with the shovel and quickly wheel them back to the large bins, tossing them in the one clearly labelled as a recycling bin. You then race back to grab the leftover trash, repeating the process except this time tossing it into the general waste bin.

One pile down, countless to go.....

It is grueling work but somewhat rewarding. You can take pride in your achievements as you slowly but surely turn the cesspool back into a spotless clearing. You cross paths with the Trubbish occasionally but it doesn't seem too concerned about you cleaning up all the rubbish. By the time you're done, your back is starting to ache and your shirt is soaked in sweat. You load all the tools back into the wheelbarrow and prepare to return them to the shed, only to find the Trubbish blocking your path. For a moment you're concerned that the Poison type is finally ready to fight, however that doesn't seem to be the case. Instead it tosses a couple of things at your feet. An apple core, likely the Leftovers of someone's lunch, as well as a broken TM disc. The disc seems to be missing a shard and the label is worn, but perhaps it could be repaired somewhere in the city? The Trubbish then looks up at you like its waiting for something. Did it want to come with you? Perhaps you could catch it if that's what you wanted, if not though, maybe there was a way for Trubbish to be of further use to the park?

 

[blu3shift]

blu3shift- You decide to let Trubbish continue to feast, every bit of rubbish it consumed was less for you to worry about after all. There was plenty to go around though and you now had to deal with the monumental task of sifting through it all. You pull on the rubber gloves as you prepare to get to work, explaining to Epoch how you'd go about the task. You head over to the dumpsters by the maintenance shed and attempt to pull them. Unfortunately you lack the strength to move them more than an inch as the wheels don't exactly like moving in the long grass. A shame, bringing them closer to the rubbish would've made life a bit easier. Fortunately you still had the wheelbarrow. Heading over to the closest collection of trash, you grab the rake and pull it into a pile. Epoch then throws himself into the pile, his programming somehow allowing him to determine which items could be 'recycled'. You load up the recyclable items with the shovel and quickly wheel them back to the large bins, tossing them in the one clearly labelled as a recycling bin. You then race back to grab the leftover trash, repeating the process except this time tossing it into the general waste bin.

One pile down, countless to go.....

It is grueling work but somewhat rewarding. You can take pride in your achievements as you slowly but surely turn the cesspool back into a spotless clearing. You cross paths with the Trubbish occasionally but it doesn't seem too concerned about you cleaning up all the rubbish. By the time you're done, your back is starting to ache and your shirt is soaked in sweat. You load all the tools back into the wheelbarrow and prepare to return them to the shed, only to find the Trubbish blocking your path. For a moment you're concerned that the Poison type is finally ready to fight, however that doesn't seem to be the case. Instead it tosses a couple of things at your feet. An apple core, likely the Leftovers of someone's lunch, as well as a broken TM disc. The disc seems to be missing a shard and the label is worn, but perhaps it could be repaired somewhere in the city? The Trubbish then looks up at you like its waiting for something. Did it want to come with you? Perhaps you could catch it if that's what you wanted, if not though, maybe there was a way for Trubbish to be of further use to the park?

Taking care of all of this trash was quite possibly the worst thing that Elijah had ever been through, but it was also immensely satisfying to see everything cleaned up in the end. The north side of the park looked absolutely spotless by the time that he was done—there wasn't a single wrapper, can, or ticket left on the ground by the time that he was done. He made sure of it too, asking Epoch to do a quick survey of the land just in case he missed a spot. So far, so good; Elijah's back was absolutely killing him at this point but he was already prepared to move on to his next task—some lawn care on the west side, if he recalled correctly. He'd probably remember it while he brought the tools back to the shed.

He made it about halfway before he hit a roadblock in the form of the Trubbish from earlier. Elijah recalled crossing paths with it a few times while he was cleaning up, but it didn't look like it cared all that much, so it was a bit of a surprise to see it intervening. Was he about to get himself into another battle? Did it want something from him, or was it here to say thanks for saving it earlier? It was probably the latter, because it offered him two gifts in the form of Leftovers and a broken TM. It definitely didn't look like much, but Elijah was grateful anyway, picking up the two items and storing them in his backpack (he'd probably have to use the Leftovers before it rotted away too). It wasn't until he looked back at the Trubbish when he noticed that it was... waiting for something? He wasn't sure what was up: it couldn't be hungry because it had plenty to eat during his cleanup session, and he'd already established that it didn't want to battle. Which only left...

It wants to join me, doesn't it?

Elijah wasn't exactly sure what to do. Having a second team member definitely wouldn't hurt, but was he ready for it? He wasn't sure if he proved himself back there, and he wasn't supposed to... uh, catch anything as a ranger, was he? Is this even what the Pokémon wanted? Would doing this result in some weird divine entropy thing that would prevent him from possibly catching anything else in the park?

...Wouldn't hurt to try. Elijah pulled a Poké Ball out of his backpack and crouched down as well as he could to try not to look menacing. He recalled those Plasma goons that were running around back in Castelia ages ago talking about treating Pokémon as equals, and while they were obviously more than a little off their rocker, it kind of sounded like the right thing to do. Steeling his nerves, he glanced at the plasticky red-and-white orb that he was holding in his left hand and then looked back at the Trubbish.

"Are you, uh... asking me to join my team?"

This was either the silliest thing that Elijah had ever done or he was about to hit one of the first big milestones in his Pokémon training journey.

 

[TheKnightsFury]

blu3shift- Was this it? Your first capture? Trubbish had certainly caught you off guard. Sure, you'd helped get rid of those Rattata that were pestering it, but did that really warrant such a moment? The Poison type had been rather nonchalant the whole time, it hadn't even bothered to acknowledge you until now. As a Park Ranger, were you meant to capture Pokemon? Well you were really only a casual Park Ranger, you were a full-time trainer. Maybe this was meant to be?

You pull out a spare Pokeball, holding it in your left hand as you question the Trubbish's intentions. The Trubbish looks into your eyes, what was it looking for? Maybe it sensed your apprehension, because it gives a shrug of its bag like one would shoulders and turns, walking towards the skip bins. What a strange little Pokemon. It didn't seem intent on going anywhere, there was a good supply of garbage for it to feed on still and it was certainly doing the park a service. Woody was worried about not having enough rangers to keep the park clean, perhaps he was a little closed minded? You knew where to find Trubbish if you wanted to, perhaps once you were certain of your intentions. There wasn't much point standing around thinking about it, you could think while you walked. You return the tools to the shed, watching as Trubbish scrambles up into the loaded bin, letting out a joyful screech as it drops into a treasure trove that only a Trubbish would love.

One task down, two to go. Where to next?

 

[blu3shift]

blu3shift- Was this it? Your first capture? Trubbish had certainly caught you off guard. Sure, you'd helped get rid of those Rattata that were pestering it, but did that really warrant such a moment? The Poison type had been rather nonchalant the whole time, it hadn't even bothered to acknowledge you until now. As a Park Ranger, were you meant to capture Pokemon? Well you were really only a casual Park Ranger, you were a full-time trainer. Maybe this was meant to be?

You pull out a spare Pokeball, holding it in your left hand as you question the Trubbish's intentions. The Trubbish looks into your eyes, what was it looking for? Maybe it sensed your apprehension, because it gives a shrug of its bag like one would shoulders and turns, walking towards the skip bins. What a strange little Pokemon. It didn't seem intent on going anywhere, there was a good supply of garbage for it to feed on still and it was certainly doing the park a service. Woody was worried about not having enough rangers to keep the park clean, perhaps he was a little closed minded? You knew where to find Trubbish if you wanted to, perhaps once you were certain of your intentions. There wasn't much point standing around thinking about it, you could think while you walked. You return the tools to the shed, watching as Trubbish scrambles up into the loaded bin, letting out a joyful screech as it drops into a treasure trove that only a Trubbish would love.

One task down, two to go. Where to next?

...Yeah, should've seen that one coming. Elijah probably just hadn't been assertive enough to catch the Trubbish—either that or it just wanted to throw him for a loop. He'd probably try to be better about that going forward: in fact, he resolved himself to catching the next Pokémon that just so much as looked like it wanted to be trained. So what if he screwed up? He could probably fare well with just Epoch if things really went south. For now, though, there wasn't really any use in waiting around. Elijah tossed the Poké Ball back into his backpack and continued to move towards the shed to put everything back where it belonged... wait, was that door supposed to be open?

Never mind that. Elijah still had some work to do. What was next... weeding and trimming bushes on the east—no, west side? That sounded right. He'd probably need something to cut things with, so he glanced around the shed to find the right tool for the job. There was bound to be something in here like there was for all that trash-picking.

 

[TheKnightsFury]

blu3shift- although you fear you may have made a mistake in your hesitation, you resolve to do better next time. The next time an opportunity like this presented itself you'd grasp it with both hands and secure your first capture. You switch focus back to your next task, gardening. You were already in the shed, it was probably worth checking for more tools to help out. Sure enough, after a bit of searching you find something that may be of some use. A pair of old hedge clippers, coated in rust but they would work with a bit of effort. After a quick check of the map you hit the path once more, Epoch following you closely as you head off to your next chore.

Woody had really undersold the condition of the gardens, if you could even call them that at the moment. The bushes were wild and overgrown. Weeds had spread wildly between them, their prickly stems would prove a pain to pull and you were already beginning to regret leaving those rubber gloves behind. You look around and find the area to be quite quiet. This would be a lot of work for you to handle on your own, but perhaps there was a way to get more hands on the job? Trubbish had certainly made cleaning up the rubbish a little easier, perhaps their were some Pokemon around that could help you clean up the garden? You'd need something to help trim back the bushes as well as clear away the weeds. A large copse of tightly knit trees rests off the far side of the garden, a nice sheltered location for Pokemon to hide in. You could get straight to work and try and complete the task by yourself or you could take a chance and try and find some help. The choice was yours.

 

[blu3shift]

blu3shift- although you fear you may have made a mistake in your hesitation, you resolve to do better next time. The next time an opportunity like this presented itself you'd grasp it with both hands and secure your first capture. You switch focus back to your next task, gardening. You were already in the shed, it was probably worth checking for more tools to help out. Sure enough, after a bit of searching you find something that may be of some use. A pair of old hedge clippers, coated in rust but they would work with a bit of effort. After a quick check of the map you hit the path once more, Epoch following you closely as you head off to your next chore.

Woody had really undersold the condition of the gardens, if you could even call them that at the moment. The bushes were wild and overgrown. Weeds had spread wildly between them, their prickly stems would prove a pain to pull and you were already beginning to regret leaving those rubber gloves behind. You look around and find the area to be quite quiet. This would be a lot of work for you to handle on your own, but perhaps there was a way to get more hands on the job? Trubbish had certainly made cleaning up the rubbish a little easier, perhaps their were some Pokemon around that could help you clean up the garden? You'd need something to help trim back the bushes as well as clear away the weeds. A large copse of tightly knit trees rests off the far side of the garden, a nice sheltered location for Pokemon to hide in. You could get straight to work and try and complete the task by yourself or you could take a chance and try and find some help. The choice was yours.

If there was supposed to be a garden here, Elijah didn't see it. What he had imagined to be a few sporadic weeds and some bushes that looked just a bit unkempt turned out to be a chaotic mess of thorns and leaves everywhere. The rusty pair of hedge trimmers that he had grabbed from the shed would have barely been able to prune a mildly overgrown shrub as is, so trying to use it to cut down... whatever was happening here would be pretty much impossible. Epoch wouldn't be much help either, unless repeatedly slamming into a bush or shooting lasers at it with its mind counted as trimming it. How was he going to solve this problem? He couldn't just ask for help when the park was already understaffed as is.

Hey, wait a second, Elijah thought. Asking another ranger for help was definitely out of the question, but a Pokémon could probably tear through these plants in a way that these hedge trimmers couldn't have ever achieved, even by instinct if that Trubbish from earlier was anything to go by. He'd already established that Epoch couldn't really make a dent in the garden, so he'd probably have to... catch something else. He still wasn't fond of the idea as he still wasn't confident about who he wanted on his team or how whatever he caught would see him...maybe he should just bring something on temporarily to see if it would be a good fit for him?

Elijah was overthinking things again. He had promised himself earlier that he'd just catch the first thing that he saw that looked like it wanted to come with him, and he wasn't one to break promises. Inwardly sighing, he looked up and spotted a densely wooded area on the other side of the ruined garden—a perfect place to find a new hire. Mentally preparing himself for whatever came next, Elijah weaved his way around the garden and entered the forest, trying not to worry about if he made the right decision or not.

 

[TheKnightsFury]

blu3shift- finding some Pokemon to help was a good option, however you were still unsure about capturing another team member. You'd sworn to yourself that you'd catch the next Pokemon you encounter, but what if it wasn't a good fit? It wasn't uncommon for a trainer just to befriend Pokemon, hell, Pokemon Ranger's didn't catch Pokemon at all, although they had means of controlling Pokemon for a time. You would just have to play things how they come and hope that when the time to capture a Pokemon presents itself, it feels right. As you weave through the garden, you notice Epoch pauses to analyze the weed that has taken hold. Strange behavior from the man-made Pokemon but its not the first time it has acted odd.

After a brief pause for Epoch you make your way into the small patch of forest. It is eerily quite, not exactly what you needed right now. Either the Pokemon here were really good at hiding or there just weren't many here right now. You and Epoch spread out a bit, keeping within sight of each other while expanding your search radius. Eventually you get an alert from Epoch, the Porygon has found something! You race towards it, finding it near the base of a tree. A large weed similar to those found in the garden has been growing near the base of the tree, however its end its quickly approaching. A trio of Weedle feverishly feast on the spiny plant, not at all worried about the barbs that would've stung your hands numb. They seem to have a big appetite and a taste for the weed, you even knew where they could find a banquet of it. If you could lead them back to the garden, they could take care of the weeds, essentially cutting your workload in half! The only trouble would be getting them back there....

 

[blu3shift]

blu3shift- finding some Pokemon to help was a good option, however you were still unsure about capturing another team member. You'd sworn to yourself that you'd catch the next Pokemon you encounter, but what if it wasn't a good fit? It wasn't uncommon for a trainer just to befriend Pokemon, hell, Pokemon Ranger's didn't catch Pokemon at all, although they had means of controlling Pokemon for a time. You would just have to play things how they come and hope that when the time to capture a Pokemon presents itself, it feels right. As you weave through the garden, you notice Epoch pauses to analyze the weed that has taken hold. Strange behavior from the man-made Pokemon but its not the first time it has acted odd.

After a brief pause for Epoch you make your way into the small patch of forest. It is eerily quite, not exactly what you needed right now. Either the Pokemon here were really good at hiding or there just weren't many here right now. You and Epoch spread out a bit, keeping within sight of each other while expanding your search radius. Eventually you get an alert from Epoch, the Porygon has found something! You race towards it, finding it near the base of a tree. A large weed similar to those found in the garden has been growing near the base of the tree, however its end its quickly approaching. A trio of Weedle feverishly feast on the spiny plant, not at all worried about the barbs that would've stung your hands numb. They seem to have a big appetite and a taste for the weed, you even knew where they could find a banquet of it. If you could lead them back to the garden, they could take care of the weeds, essentially cutting your workload in half! The only trouble would be getting them back there....

For all that nature had reclaimed this section of the park, the forest seemed uncharacteristically silent. Elijah heard his shoes collide with the dirt on the ground as he pushed onward, the trees composing a leafy canopy that provided some much-needed respite from the afternoon sun that had been beating down on him all day. Epoch was... doing its own thing, completely of its own accord? Elijah was told that Porygon couldn't do that, actually—something was up with Epoch and he knew it, but he let it slide. It seemed to have gotten the memo, searching for something just as intently as he was. Hopefully it was something that he could take advantage of for the task at hand.

Elijah was intently staring at a particularly large oak tree when he heard a ping from behind him, causing him to yell in surprise. What in the world was that thing doing?! He turned around to discover Epoch staring at a weed that looked an awful lot like the ones that had taken over the garden being eaten by what looked like a bunch of worms with spikes on their heads. Those were... Weedles, right? He'd heard a ton about them from the trainers that he bumped into online—they were apparently really common outside of Unova and were poisonous, sort of like the Venipede that he'd see crawling around on the sidewalk sometimes. They seemed less threatening than the bugs that he was used to, which was probably a good thing, actually. Besides that, they were absolutely devouring that weed like it was nothing, not only meeting but passing Elijah's expectations.

Wait. Is that why they call them Weedle? Who's the comedian that thought of that one?

Never mind that. Elijah's just needed to lead them to the garden, and then he could get to work with the admittedly very pitiful tools that he had on hand. Bugs liked fruit and berries, right? He hoped so, because that was the only kind of food that he had on hand at the moment. Asking Epoch to give up its Sitrus Berry (who thankfully immediately complied without any more of its own weirdness), he dug his fingers into it, tearing it into pieces that he could use as a breadcrumb trail of sorts to lead them to the destination that he had in mind for them. He then scattered the items behind him as he headed back towards the garden, hoping that the Weedle would follow suit.

Now that he was thinking about it, Elijah knew a lot more about Pokémon than he thought. It probably just came with the territory of growing up in an area with an active League presence, though.

 

[TheKnightsFury]

blu3shift- Although Epoch's behavior was odd, acting of its own accord was something you considered to be outside of its programming, this time it had paid off. You'd found some free labor, these Weedle would surely make quick work of the weeds. In order to lead them back there, you request that the Porygon give up the Sitrus Berry you had gifted it earlier. It complies without issue, as you would expect. Tearing the berry up into smaller pieces, you lob a couple of pieces towards the Weedle who are just finishing up their snack. The smell of fresh berry is enticing and a welcome change of flavor from the weed. They fight over the pieces but it is a harmless quarrel, there was plenty more to go around after all. Once you know you've got the Weedle interested, you turn and continue to drop a trail of the berry behind you.

Epoch monitors the situation as you weave your way back to the garden, the Weedle seem to be following without issue. They're a bit hesitant as you break from the cover of the trees, but once they see the garden and the feast that awaits them, their little eyes light up. The charge into the garden and quickly get to work, munching away at the weeds that you'd been tasked to clear away. That couldn't have gone any better. With the Weedle working on the weeds, you just had to put the rusty old hedge clippers to work and trim back the bushes. Hopefully by the time your done, the Weedle will be as well. Epoch hovers above the Weedle, intent on keeping a watch on them.