As Ivie had expected, we were assigned to a section of the wall, the low, almost fence-like structure suddenly giving a much less reliable feeling. Now, instead of a simple, mental breakpoint, the demarcation between the city and the fields around it, it was the objective we had to defend. Standing in the cold, windy darkness, I suddenly felt incredibly alone, even with Ivie only a few steps away from me and Claire barely visible in the dim light coming from the city.

“The Ninjask will be here first. There will only be a few and their numbers will be concentrated further to the east, but we’ll see action here. They are fast, vicious and fly like nobody's business. But here’s the rub: They are the least problematic foe we face..” Ivie warned me, her voice intense as she carefully tried to prepare me.

“The Nincada, they are an even greater problem, simply because there will be about twenty Nincada for every Ninjask. While they are a lot slower, they can burrow into concrete and have been known to do so. Apparently, they enjoy the warmer temperature below our cities, or something like that. I’m not certain. Anyway, they will ruin the crops they come across, nothing we can really do about that, and try to swarm the city. If they manage, it will be a disaster.” she paused for a moment, letting out a sigh, “People always seem to think that towns and cities fall, because a single, incredibly powerful Pokémon decided the town was an eyesore, or something like that.” there was another pause, and she shook her head.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s been known to happen, but it’s rare and a lot easier to defend against. The real danger are swarms, simply because our aces can only be in so many places.” she explained, placing a hand on my shoulder, giving me a short squeeze.

“But we’ve got this.” she assured me, a smile that almost seemed to be genuine on her face.

When I gave her a nod with the best smile I could muster on my face, she seemed to relax, just a little.

“Last, but sadly not least, there are going to be Shedninja. Nasty buggers, mostly because they can phase through walls and avoid a lot of damage that way. In turn, they are fragile and there’s going to be only so many of them. If you notice any, have your Charmeleon burn them.” she advised, and I nodded, accepting the responsibility.

For a minute or two, we simply stood there, silently waiting for what we knew would come. In the distance, I could hear a low humming sound, progressively getting louder and it took me a moment to realise what I was hearing. The swarm.

“They’re coming.” Ivie muttered, taking out a Pokéball, holding it in front of her chest. In the distance, I could see red flashes, announcing that people were starting to call out their partners.

“Let’s welcome them most kindly. Go, Dawn.” with a flash of red light, her partner appeared and a gentle, flowery smell spread around us. Despite the situation, I couldn’t suppress a smile, Ivie’s partner was simply beautiful. About a head shorter than me, she looked as if a flower had become a person. Mostly green, with leaves around the arms and legs, giving the appearance of clothes, arms ending in bouquets and hair-like petals on her head.

“Rose of Dawn, my precious friend.” Ivie introduced, pride obvious in her voice.

“Come, Prince Charming.” I softly called, unable to stop myself from adding, “The night is cold and I need your flame.”

With the press of a button and in a flash of red light, Charmeleon appeared, standing a little taller than Dawn, but with far more bulk. And yet, there was no doubt that Dawn was more dangerous. Regardless, with Prince Charming standing beside me, the night was suddenly far less cold and unpleasant. My precious partner was here, and he would not let me down.

“Sadly, I don’t have particularly great partners against this threat.” Ivie shook her head. “I guess my mother was somewhat prophetic when she named me.” she gave me a grin, maybe trying to make small-talk to pass the waiting time.

“I’ve tried to train other Pokémon-types, but you wouldn’t believe how many Pokéballs I’ve thrashed, trying to catch them. Grass-types are what I’m good at, not much else.” she explained.

“Makes dealing with Bugs and Flying-Types rather awkward, but there’s little I can do. I managed to catch a Shinx recently, but he’s far from ready for a fight like this.” she added, the buzzing now uncomfortably loud. In the distance, I could see a jet of flame shoot into the air, driving back the night for a moment. In the sudden light, I could see shapes, a dozen, maybe two, flying bugs, their wings frantically buzzing as they dodged out of the way.

“And here they are.” she reached out, offering her hand to shake. When I took it, she briefly gave mine a squeeze. “Tonight, we will fight together. Dawn, we are a team.” she announced, pulling me to stand next to her.

“Prince Charming, we are a team.” I parroted ivie, not quite sure why. It seemed appropriate.

“Time to set-up. Dawn, Ingrain. This is where we make our stand.” Ivie ordered, and Dawn set her feet, thin vines and roots spreading into the ground.

“Dawn, Poison the air.” Ivie called, just as one of the buzzing shapes closed in on the area we were defending. Instantly, a deep purple sheen appeared around Dawn’s bouquets and with an elegant flourish, she waved them forward. A fine dust appeared in the air before her, only visible in the dark due to a soft glow, mirroring the sheen. The Ninjask, a giant, gold-black bug with translucent, white wings was far too fast to slop, or even slow down much, and barrelled right into the cloud of glowing dust before the dust could be dispersed by the cold wind.

“You can attack. Getting them down quickly is key.” Ivie told me.

“Charm, wide burn.” I called out, remembering the last battle against a pesky flying. Then, it had been a winged rat, now it was an annoying bug. In response to my command, Charm let a volley of glowing embers fly, covering the area around the flying bug, leaving it nowhere to dodge. And yet, despite the wide area covered, the Ninjask managed to avoid almost all of the embers, only one or two bouncing off it’s shell.

My eyes widened, when the Ninjask suddenly sped up even more, moving at a speed I would have sworn impossible without using a move but there was no tell-tale glow. Only the sudden burst of speed, until finally, the neon-green glow of a bug-type attack appeared around it’s claws.

Next to me, Ivie gave a command, but I was too focused on my partner to listen.

“Dragon Breath.” I managed to shout, ordering my partner to try stopping the blazingly fast bug. The flame on his tail started to burn with that deep, red sheen, but the bug was too fast, reaching Dawn before Charm was ready or her own attack had time to go off.

It looked almost as if there were multiple bugs, all attacking poor Dawn, brief bursts of radiant energy escaping as the Shedninja tore into her flower-like body. Finally, Charm let out a thin stream of that deep crimson fire, the bug too close and too focused on attacking to dodge. At the same time, Dawn’s bouquets had that same glow again, forming vines between them.

In the light of Charm’s attack, I could see that similar vine-like patterns appeared on the Ninjask’s body, flashing with energy as Dawn attacked.

Charm’s attack struck the bug directly, hitting right into the side, and for a brief moment, I thought he had successfully disturbed it, intimidating it with the primordial power of that flame. But instead, the Ninjask simply stopped moving, falling from the sky and landing motionlessly on the ground.

“Not bad, Dani.” Ivie complimented, while I was still trying to figure out what had happened.

“Didn’t look like you needed it.” I replied, still staring at the defeated Ninjask.

“Eh, Dawn is my ace. Would be kinda sad if she needed help. She needs a bit of set-up time, but she’s plenty strong.” she grinned, pride at her partner’s prowess visible. “Where you come in, is once the larger numbers of Nincada approach. You and your friend will move into the gaps between seasoned trainers, making sure that nothing slips past. We’ve got quality, they’ve got numbers.” she added.

Looking around the field, I realised that most battles had already ended, or at least, I was unable to see any further fights. The difference in individual power between the trained Pokémon and the wild ones was clearly demonstrated.

And yet, I couldn’t be calm, not while knowing that the worst had yet to come.