Message

Climbing over the last hill with Roggenrola by his side, Deimos looked down at the sprawling military camp before him. It had been a tiring journey for him and Roggenrola. It took them nearly the entire day to reach the camp after the day they battled the Onix. All he wanted at this point was a lovely cot to sleep on instead of the ground.

Deimos recalled Roggenrola as he got closer to the entrance to the camp. It wouldn't bode well for anyone to have the Cragspur guards mistake him as an enemy. Walking up to the guards, Deimos flashed the Cragspur Levy badge he was given back when he joined the military.

Nodding at the guards as he passed them, Deimos made his way into the bustling camp. Heading to the area designated for Levies, Deimos set up his tent before taking out the envelope Captain Ujiteru had given him half a month ago.

The envelope was white with a bit of dirt on it from Deimos's journey. Breaking the seal on it, two objects slid out of the envelope when he tilted it upside down. The first was a piece of a white paper detailing his orders. The second was a Rotom Phone, which caused Deimos's eyebrows to shoot up.

Rotom phones were a high-end product from Galar and Paldea, almost exclusively found in those regions. The fact that he was now holding one spoke lengths about Captain Ujiteru's connections. A Levy from Cragspur would never earn enough to buy a Rotom Phone.

Looking down at the paper detailing his orders, Deimos was extremely curious about what Captain Ujiteru wanted him to do. It had to be a mission of extreme importance to him if it warranted giving him a Rotom Phone and instructing him to burn the paper after reading it.

Unfolding the paper, Deimos began to read the message.

Levy Deimos,

You have been assigned to Boldore Company, Squad 9, Team 6. Your direct superior is one of my trusted aides, Knight Tamora. She is expecting you within 20 days of me giving you this message. Your primary mission will be to support the mission directive of Boldore Company, which, to my knowledge, is to advance along the southeastern border to Viperia.

This is what you will tell anyone if they ask. Your real mission will be to join her team in searching for clues to something I am looking for. Your team has been assigned the role of scouts. You may have to fight on the battlefield, but with my signature detailing your team as a specialized team of scouts, that will not happen unless necessary.

You will know what you are looking for when you find it. If you find it, you will gather all the information before calling me on the Rotom Phone. I will give you further instructions if that happens.

Signed, Captain Ujiteru

Finishing reading the message, Deimos contemplated what to do. The beginning of the message sounded fine. Standard orders to a battlefield detailing the company, squad, and team he was under and his direct superior.

The rest of the message sounded shady as fuck and seemed to be a personal mission from Captain Ujiteru. Being a former soldier himself, Deimos was well aware that while there weren't many of them, some soldiers sought personal profit. It was beginning to look like Captain Ujiteru was one of those soldiers.

What Deimos didn't understand was the very cryptic message about Captain Ujiteru looking for something. The area between Cragspur and Viperia was covered in forests, swamps, and mountains. If he wasn't going to tell them what he was looking for, it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

They could be looking for a person, a Pokemon, a package, or an evolutionary item; it could be many different things. It was possible that Knight Tamora could know what Captain Ujiteru was looking for, but it was also unlikely if he didn't trust her enough. Either way, Deimos would find out if they found what Captain Ujiteru wanted.

Glancing at the message in hand, Deimos took out a lighter and lit the edge of the paper on fire. As the fire started, Deimos put his hand on it and extinguished it. Deimos then tucked the letter deep inside his bag inside a waterproof baggy. It was better to keep evidence of Captain Ujiteru potentially doing something shady rather than destroy it.

Finishing putting away his belongings, Deimos walked out of the tent and quickly found the training field within the camp after asking for directions from a soldier. Captain Ujiteru said Knight Tamora expected him within 20 days of giving Deimos the message. That meant he had at least another four days before he had to show up before Knight Tamora.

That was four days for Roggenrola to practice moves. Releasing Roggenrola, Deimos walked towards a boulder before instructing Roggenrola to begin practicing Tackle. As Deimos studied Roggenrola using Tackle, he started to think about the next stage of Roggenrola's training after it mastered Harden and Tackle.

In addition to already knowing Harden and Tackle, Roggenrola also knew Sand Tackle and Stealth Rock. Sand Attack, they would have to practice to build up to Sandstorm. Stealth Rock was a beneficial field effect move they would have to master.

However, neither was that useful on a chaotic battlefield; seeing how Stealth Rock took some time to set up, Sand Attack would only blind its opponents for a second or two. Yes, a second or two could be life or death on the battlefield, as proved by the first woman Deimos killed. But seeing how they were now in a scouting unit, there was no need for it.

Deimos wanted Roggenrola to transition from Tackle into Headbutt and Harden into Iron Defense. Both moves were probably beyond Roggenrola's capabilities at the moment. This is why Deimos would have Roggenrola learn Smack Down to give it an offensive boost. While it learned Smack Down, Roggenrola would continue to master Tackle and Harden.

The other bonus to Roggenrola learning Smack Down is that it would finally have a ranged attack in its repertoire. Deimos would no longer have to be worried about Pokemon attacking from a distance or Pokemon attacking from the sky.

After a few hours of Roggenrola practicing Tackle and Harden and Deimos planning how to train Smack Down, Deimos decided it was time to try it. Calling Roggenrola over, Deimos started to explain how he wanted it done,

"Roggenrola, can you perform Stealth Rock for me with only one rock?"

"Rola," Roggenrola confirmed. A single stone lifted into the air and hovered.

"Good, now when I move, I want you to try and sense how that stone moves towards me," Deimos told Roggenrola. After seeing it bob its head, Deimos took a few steps and watched as the hovering stone shot off toward him.

Roggenrola, upon seeing this, focused all of its attention on trying to feel how the stone moved. They practiced this several times until Roggenrola bobbed its head and said, "Rola!"

Taking this as the signal to progress, Deimos said, "Now put it together in one motion. Don't let the stone hover in place; control the stone to fly at the boulder."

Bobbing its body, Roggenrola turned to face the boulder, and after a few seconds, a stone rose and flew at the boulder, hitting it.

"Yes!" Deimos said in excitement, that was Smack Down! "Great work, Roggenrola. Keep practicing it!"

Four days later, on his way to meet his new team, Deimos felt satisfied at what he and Roggenrola had accomplished since they had been in the camp. Smack Down was now officially a part of Roggenrola's move set. He had a Squire with a Boldore watch Roggenrola perform the move and had confirmed it was Smack Down.

Smack Down currently takes 6.8 seconds to use. Of course, it would go down with training in the future. In addition to working on Smack Down, Deimos continued to have Roggenrola attempt to perfect Tackle and Harden. It now took Roggenrola 1.8 seconds to use Tackle and 0.8 seconds to use Harden.

The further Roggenrola improved the move, the slower the gains seemed to come by. Luckily, they had a while until it mattered, or at least that's what Deimos hoped for.

Deimos continued walking through the camp until he reached an area with a guidon out front with a picture of a Boldore and the letter 'B' on it. Walking into the new site, Deimos quickly found a soldier from Boldore Company to ask for directions on where Squad 9, Team 6 was located.

"Do you know where Squad 9, Team 6 is?" Deimos asked an older soldier who was about to walk by him. The man paused before repeating back to Deimos,

"Squad 9, Team 6?"

"Yeah, I have orders to join Boldore Company, Squad 9, Team 6, and report to Knight Tamora," Deimos repeated.

A grin grew on the man's face before he said, "Well, I'll be damned, you actually made it here. I can do you one better than tell you where it is; I can show you! After all, you just earned me some money, my friend!"

The man then wrapped his arm around Deimos's shoulders and guided him towards the back of the site while saying, "I can already tell we're going to be best of friends!" Sending a shiver down Deimos's spine for an unknown reason.