After the enlightening conversation with Youssef, I left the building/HQ and made my way towards Viridian City since that was the closest city to the village I had been assigned to just now. Hardwood Village was a medium-sized village located close to halfway on Route 102, the route between Viridian City and Ivory City. It was pretty much on the last stretch that bordered the Viridian Forest, though some would say that the first part of Route 102 still belonged to the Viridian Forest and was simply its outermost part.
Anyway, Hardwood Village, as one could probably infer from the name, specializes in wood, more specifically in the wood coming from the Viridian Forest. According to what Youssef told me someone did not follow logging protocols and ended up destroying the nests of a few Butterfree. While that fool might not have thought much about the consequences of his actions, it caused the Butterfree to get help from their fellow Butterfree.
They basically went and called their family along with all their friends, gathering somewhere between 500 to 600 Butterfree. This swarm then followed after the "destroyer of their homes" and gave him a taste of his own medicine, which unfortunately meant that Hardwood Village had to pay the price.
Thankfully, the swarm was not out to hurt or murder anybody, so they "only" caused material damage, though there were a few unlucky people who got hurt by/within the destroyed or damaged homes and buildings. 60% of the village's buildings got wasted by the end of that attack, and since it was "just" an average-sized village, the small trainer's presence was unable to stop a swarm of this size.
This was good, at least in my opinion since the Butterfree were not targeting any humans and it kept the situation from escalating. Had there been any trainer strong enough to achieve a decisive victory, I might have thought differently, but according to Ramon that was not the case, so not interfering and simply informing the authorities was probably the best decision they could have made.
As for the damages caused, the alliance would pay for the restoration of the village along with covering any losses suffered by the villagers. The Disaster Relief Bureau was responsible for the first part, and I would be helping out in the cleanup as well as the restoration process. As for the guy responsible for this mess, he got tossed around by the Butteerfree for a bit before they returned to the forest. It might have been a mercy on their part, but they did not hurt him all that much and simply taught him a lesson.
Sadly for him, the alliance had a bone to pick with him as well. He had already been seized by the police, and he would have to work off at least a part of the damage his actions caused. I was pretty sure that he would be working off that debt for at least a few years, if not a decade or two depending on how much of the expense he had to cover.
One stupid decision cost him years of his life. I mean, it was not that hard to check if a tree was being used as a home by a Pokemon or two. How irresponsible and/or lazy did one have to be to skip that simple step? It was not as if that would have taken more than half a minute to a minute at most. Heck, it might not have taken even half a minute once he got used to it.
Anyway, I made it to the village, and for the first time since the start of my practical year, I got to see some fellow aspiring trainers. There were just 5 other kids that had apparently been assigned to this place as well, but it was still a novel experience for me to see/work with people my "actual" age during one of my phases.
Aside from us, there had to be 200 or so disaster bureau workers running around, not counting the Pokemon they were utilizing. One of the senior workers gathered us "juniors" around and explained the "clean up" process to us. The process was divided into two areas, name building inspection, and wreckage inspection.
The wreckage inspection was divided into certain phases. The first one consisted of people leading Geodude/Graveler and Zubat/Golbat around the destroyed parts of the village, who used their respective senses to see if anyone was buried under the rubble. The Geodude line used something akin to a seismic sense to observe the wrecked place, while the Zubat line used both their Echolocation and Blood Sense.
Both groups checked each location just in case one of them missed something, which was not impossible. On a side note, unlike those two lines, there were only a few psychic types around, and they were helping out at other points, so their help only got requested if both parties could not come to a decision on a matter.
There was no doubt that the two lines were doing an important job since the result of their investigation determined whether the clearing/demolition process had to be done carefully or if it could be done in the fastest/most efficient manner. Following that investigation came the second phase, which was clearing the wreckage.
In case someone buried got detected, a psychic was called so that they could ensure that the pocket/person did not come to harm during the rescue operation, which was handled by either Graveler or in cooperation between a member of that line and some strong Pokemon capable of carefully lifting/clearing the wreckage. If the wreckage was clear, there was no need to disturb the psychic Pokemon, and some strong Pokemon began to clear the place.
The main focus of the psychic types was related to the first responsibility of the disaster bureau, the investigation of damaged buildings. The psychic Pokemon secured the safety of the investigator by ensuring that the building did not collapse on the people examining the building, or in case it still came to a collapse, they ensured that the inspector remained alive/unharmed.
The inspection of the building had to be done to determine which building had to be demolished and which could be repaired. Both the workers and psychics were obviously also on the lookout for any people hiding/stuck in the buildings. Only after all buildings had been checked and all wreckages had been removed, did the next phase start, which was the repair and reconstruction of the buildings/village structures.
Also, aside from the whole "clean-up" and repair process, the disaster relief bureau also cooperated with the local village leadership to ensure the temporary housing and health of the villagers until the village had been repaired, so aside from the intact building, one could also see a lot of tents and earth/stone huts set up in the "clear" parts of the village.
Anyway, after that "lecture", the senior began to assign us juniors to certain areas depending on our capabilities, which he or rather the bureau probably got from our files. All other aspiring trainers seemed to only have either the starter they received close to a year ago or a second Pokemon and those naturally influence their assignment as well.
When it became my turn, Josh, the senior, gave me an impressed look and told me that I could choose what I wanted to do since I was capable of handling any job. I briefly considered the options and decided to help out everywhere since I was already present and could definitely do/handle it.
Hence, I asked Josh if I could send my Pokemon to help out the workers in each area. Josh only hesitated for a single moment before agreeing to my offer, so I called out everyone who could help. Luna/Clefable and Gwen/Gardevoir were sent to the evacuation/safety zone since they were our best healers.
Those capable of using a seismic sense, or any other sense that would help investigate the situation inside the wreckage joined the Geodude and Zubat lines in their work. The psychics were the exception to that since they went to help the building inspectors. Those who could not help with either of those but were capable of lifting stuff without disturbing others helped clear the various wreckages.
In the end, I called out all main members aside from, Hera, the Beedrill duo, pretty much the whole Water Squad, and Saphira. Shino/Yanmega would have also been among them if not for his Danger Sensing talent, which allowed him to join the first group. I naturally told everyone to be careful and to take care of one another just in case. Once everyone had their assignments, I made my way to the closest wreckage to use my aura and psychic senses to check for anyone buried there.
After confirming that the area was clear, I pulled out my phone and opened the live map page Josh told us about. I had to log in with my alliance ID first, but once I had done that, I was able to mark the place as examined. I then made my way to the next unchecked area, and on the way, I saw a batch of people and Pokemon heading to the wreckage zone I just checked.
Once it started to get dark at 6:30 p.m. everyone's shift, including mine, was over. An announcement was actually made to tell people to stop working, mostly due to safety reasons and because the whole live map had been marked as checked by now. Since there were no lives in immediate danger, there was no reason to rush the clearing work after all.
Anyway, after that announcement my Pokemon began to gather around me. I thanked them for doing a good job and helping out before I transferred them all back to Utopia. I was going to enter Utopia as well, but first I had to find Josh and "check out" for the day. Once I had found him, he told me about the dinner that was being handed out in the safe zone.
He also tried to offer me one of the tents there, but I politely declined both offers and told him that I already had somewhere to stay, which he acknowledged. He simply told me to be back here at 9 a.m. to resume my work before wishing me a good evening. I made my way out to one of the wreckages before entering Utopia.
Everyone was already waiting for me, including the ones that had stayed inside. After greeting them, I began to pull out dinner, and we talked about our day while we ate. Everyone began to share what they had done during the rescue/demolition efforts. The ones that had stayed inside listened closely, interested in hearing what their friends had done outside.
They shared that they had mostly trained and sparred during the time we were out. I could feel how they longed to help out as well while the others narrated what they had done. Unfortunately, the situation was just not suitable for their capabilities and/or forms. There was nothing we could do about that.
Regardless, to reward everyone for their efforts I asked them what they wanted to do for the night, and watching a movie as well as listening to me sing were the most popular choices, so I first sang a few songs for close to an hour before putting up a movie from my memories.
The next morning, we finished our breakfast at 8:30 a.m., and I made my way out of Utopia by 8:45 a.m. I found Josh and reported back for work, and he told me that now that the rescue and building inspection part was done, the cleaning of the wreckage as well as the demolition of the building beyond repair would be our main focus.
I once more asked if I could bring out my Pokemon to help, and Josh seemed quite eager to agree, which was not surprising since I had learned yesterday that my Pokemon alone had more than doubled our progress speed.
Anyway, for the rest of the day, we went around destroying buildings and clearing the wreckages. Any "waste" got transported to a few crates that had been set up and thrown inside. According to Josh, the crates were made by Silph Co. for the Disaster Relief Bureau, which was nice on their part I guess.
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