12/4/2015
For those who have been following this story for a while now: you have my sincerest apologies for neglecting this story for so long and putting it on hiatus. School really began kicking my arse, and I had a number of other personal/non-fanfiction projects going on, and I still have them going to a degree, but I've finally managed to push them aside to work on this, and hopefully my other Pokemon stories; more specifically, Out of the Dark. And while it's not technically mine, I'm also working with the amazing ByakBlade with their Pokemon Ranger story, Aftermath, so I totally recommend you check that out if you don't know it already. Seriously.
And, yeah, I'm reuploading completely different chapters than from the past. I really didn't really know where I was going with this plot before, but I have a much better draft now (I hope). My writing style's changed a lot, so . . . eh. *shrugs* I'll try to keep a bunch of the witty dialogue from previous versions in future chapters.
If this is your first time here, then welcome, and I hope you enjoy.
I do not own Pokemon, just the story and OCs. (Let this be the one and only disclaimer of the story, unless I specifically point something out in later chapters.)
Bright azure eyes flaring, a young woman jolted upright, fingers clenching around a pocketknife and swinging wildly at a foe that wasn't there, other fist raised to block a blow that would never come.
She went rigid as the blade hit nothing, unmoving, staring blankly into the darkness of her bedroom, the only sign that she was alive was the heaving of her chest, and the sound of rattling breath. After a long few minutes, she let her eyes close, arms falling to her sides, flicking her wrist to sheath the knife in her hand, pushing it back under a small pillow.
The woman reached up to rub her forehead, teeth grit. Another damn bad dream. A nightmare, really. That wasn't really the problem, though, it was more of that there were so many recently. She lightly slapped herself, letting rough palms drag across cool skin. It's not near that time at all, subconscious, cut out the B.S., please. I haven't been getting enough sleep for a week. Which meant no work to do for a week, it would be too dangerous if she wasn't on her toes, ready to spring at any given moment.
She rubbed at her forehead again, then at her eyes, entangling silky pieces of hair that blended in perfectly with the lack of light around her, but she could feel it; it was morning. Which meant it was, maybe, eleven at night for her.
A rustling farther down her bed made her tense instinctively, then relax, then tense again as a faint blue light flickered on and off, like its own little heartbeat, which, unfortunately, nearly blinded the girl with the sudden light. She hissed and jerked her head away from the source of the light, a lump of sleek black and blue-ringed fur from where her knees were, an Umbreon pawing at something in its sleep, ears twitched and tail waving back and forth.
At least somebody's having sweet dreams, she thought dryly, pulling her legs out from a thin sheet, the only other cover on the bed, and rise to her feet with a grace unassociated with someone waking up from a nightmare and shaking nearly to the point of hyperventilation.
Arm outstretched, she slowly made her way across the room, stopped when knuckles brushed hollow sheetrock. She reached out more to the right and grasped at cold metal, twisting at the lock and slipping through the doorway, taking three steps forward, reach up to just above head level to her left, grab a hair tie from the stash she kept up on the shelf, pull hip-length oily black hair into a low ponytail, stray strands floating wispily and resting against her nose.
Three more strides forward before her nose touched thick fabric, and she held a hand in front of her eyes before shoving aside the curtain that separated the hallway and the main room of the house, sunlight streaming in through thin curtains in front of glass sliding doors to her left. She considered grabbing a glass of water from the gallon in the fridge, on her right, but decided against it. She'd probably just wake up again at four to use the bathroom.
She glanced over at the glass doors, eyes adjusting to the light of her apartment, and strode over the the doors, pulling them open and slipping out onto a tiny balcony, signifying it as one of the highest floors on the complex, and her as one of the most powerful and dangerous people in the area - only people with the best skills and who could make enough "pay" could live on her floor and above.
The young woman braced herself against the balcony bar and squinted into the few harsh rays of sun peeking through the time-ravaged buildings, resisting the urge to raise an arm to shield her eyes. She never particularly liked Orre during the daytime - it was much too hot and dry and bright for her liking. That's what she got for being a native to Sinnoh and willingly living right smack-dab in the middle of a desert region, she supposed, exhaling slightly. But it was easier to live this way, and a bit easier to keep under the radar. No people in Orre's high society or vengeful thieve victims would think twice about the slums, where an assassin could easily give themselves a high reputation and stake out their own territory.
And, y'know, for other reasons.
There was a soft rustling beside her and she glanced down to see the Umbreon with blue rings staring up unblinking at her, standing on its back paws and standing against the rail in a similar position to the woman. She held its sun-golden gaze for a moment before smiling faintly and scratching behind its ears.
"You want food, don't you, Eon?" Her voice had a coldness to it, a smoothness that someone might assume by her features, but it was a low honey-smoothness, not a high-pitched, razor smoothness.
The Umbreon responded with a low rumble in its throat, nuzzling its trainer's hand.
"Thought so."
She ruffled its forehead for a moment before turning against the sunlight and gliding past through the doorway, Eon bounding ahead of her, quickly closing the doors behind her and drawing the thick curtains, the fur on the eeveelution's fur shimmering and casting the room in a faint light, casting eerie shadows as it made its way to a cupboard on the edge of the counter, pawing at the handle, resulting in several loud bangs.
"Hey there," the woman murmured, bending down to open the cabinet, and give another few scratches behind the ear. "You'll wake the whole building with that, and then Mark and Sola will be wake up. You know how they get."
Eon let out a whine and slunk back, padding back to somewhere behind the small kitchen table and making it near-impossible to see under the counter. The woman exhaled again and tentatively reached in, grabbing at a bag and instinctively took a few extra steps to the right to avoid banging her hip into the corner (something she had done all too many times . . .) and made her way over the Umbreon, who was sitting impatiently beside a multitude of bowls, tail thumping the floor loudly.
The woman grunted as she bent to pour in a considerable size of kibble into a bowl, grumbling, "You are truly determined to wake everyone here, aren't you?"
Eon merely let out another soft rumble and darted up to give her a small lick, froze, then hastily shrunk back into its food. The woman raised an eyebrow skeptically, then felt a nudging behind her bare knee, like a sharp blade. She twisted as best she could to catch sight of a white-furred beast settle around her ankles, sickle curving from its head catching on her leg, sleepy red eyes peering up at her in irritation.
The dark-haired carefully maneuvered herself to pour another bowl of food and nudge it towards they Absol, muttering under her breath. "See, Eon? Now you've woken Sola, and that'll mean Mark's awake." The Umbreon apologetically nudged her ankle in between bites and went back to chowing.
The woman sighed as she disentangled herself from the Pokemon and stored the bag back under the counter, taking care to seal it shut before stalking back to her room, slipping through the doorway, and huffing when she saw a mass of fur curled up where she was sleeping only half an hour ago; well, she didn't really see it clearly, more like she saw the faint outline of something where she had been sleeping, thanks to Eon's glow in the other room.
"Hey," she grunted, making her way over to the pile of mattresses, unsurprised when one eye opened immediately to zoom in on the girl, aqua eyes not tired in the least, "I was there, you know."
The Pokemon let out what could be described as a chuckle, muffled by covers, and rolled on its side to make room for her. The woman climbed in silently, tugging at the thin sheet to cover her, the furry mass by her feet clambering back to where it was before, curling against her back. A dim red flashed across the walls for a second and the weight on her back lessened, a small Zorua scrambling down to snuggle in the crook of her legs.
Thin lips spreading into a small smile, the woman nestled down herself, attempting to find some form of sleep before dusk came.
"Hey, Kate!"
The Ranger straightened and twirled at the sound of her name, eyes flicking to find the source. She quickly found it as a slightly chubby, chestnut-haired man jogged over to her through the ever-crowded lobby of the Ranger Union, weaving between civilians and Rangers alike, though it did seem even more packed than usual. He finally came to a halt in front of her, panting slightly, bending to catch his breath.
"Murph! I thought you were still in Oblivia, what's going on?" Kate noted another large surge of people rushing through the Union's sliding doors and pulled them to the side, towards the wall.
When they were out of harm's way, she squinted at the arrivees more closely; they didn't all look like Almia natives, with toned down clothes and fabrics as would be fitting of the end of winter. Instead, a good variety wore brightly colored outfits and layers that weren't of Ranger origin. Trainers, Kate realized, and noticed a man in a dark green cloak clutching at what looked like a harp of some sort, engaging in rapid Sinnohian with another younger girl with spiky red hair, absentmindedly brushing a beribboned Glameow. And contest performers! But there's no contest halls here yet, and the winter attractions are over . . .
Her stomach clenched and she turned back to Murph, saying lowly, "What happened? Masses of Trainers from the League Regions don't just show up in the Union's lobby every day-" She caught a snippet of conversation from a passing couple. "-wondering about the explosion in Sinnoh?!" she finished, normally soft voice rising to dangerously high pitches, fingers picking at the pair of thick leggings she donned. "Murph, just what the hell happened?!"
The man was finally able to catch his breath and stand up properly, normally cheerful face darkly serious. "That's exactly why I was looking for you," he said, looking down at the newspaper clutched in his right hand, and handed it to the girl, who snatched it from his grasp and stiffened, jaw dropping as she read the cover title:
BOMBING IN SINNOH, POKEMON LEAGUE DESTROYED, CHAMPION COMATOSE!
Kate scanned the page frantically, a few phrases sticking out to her.
On 2:30 a.m. on April third, 2XXX, reports of . . .
. . . worldwide panic . . . unknown explosion obliterated Pokemon League building with Champion Cynthia Shiro and others inside . . . rocked the nation . . .
"I . . ." Kate was speechless.
"Yeah," Murph agreed, voice wavering for a moment, gesturing for Kate to follow him up the escalators to the second floor of the Union, waving at the guards to let the two pass. "All regions grounded ships, planes, and trains. They had to stop at the nearest ports, which would explain that."
He waved back down to the Ranger Union lobby, and the amassed crowd of Trainers and civilians.
"It made worldwide news, so everyone flocked to the nearest motels, hotels, shops, wherever there was coverage of what was going on." Oh, Kate thought. She hadn't even noticed the flat screen TVs the Unions installed in the lobby.
They reached the second floor and Murph briskly led the duo down the main hallway. "All the regions closed the borders, too, so no one can get through the checkpoints and possibly escape." They turned down a side hallway, avoiding a few rookie Rangers run past them, all panicked expressions and squeaking about being sent out of region so early out of the Ranger Academy.
"Sinnoh is in an official state of emergency," he continued, Kate wordlessly handing back the newspaper and Murph tucked it under his arm without missing a beat, "with . . . um . . . what do you call it?"
"Marshal law," Kate replied dully, organizing thoughts in her head. She already had several ideas on just who would be willing to pull something like that.
"Yeah, that. Residents are being required to show ID at Pokemon Centers and whatnot, and a full body search. All military branches are active, and the Sinnohian Field Marshal accepted the Union's offer to send in Rangers to patrol and help subdue riots without hesitation. The professor sent Wendy, Sven, and a few others to help secure the other government officials, and we're sending out any Rangers we can spare."
"Ah," was her response. "You already compile a list of suspects already?"
"We've been getting reports and tips every second, but there's way too many," Murph groaned, running a hand through his hair. "Too many false tips, as well. People are suggesting criminals they damn well know are locked up, under solitary confinement, given the death sentence, and-or all of the above." He gave Kate an odd look. "Don't you usually listen to the radio in the morning when you wake up? And what happened to your Styler? Did someone knock on your door and tell you something was going on?" He nodded at Kate's bare right wrist, concern shining in his eyes.
Kate's brow furrowed and she scratched at her wrist, uneasy about the unnatural lack of weight. "My Styler needed some maintenance, so I lent it to Vato for a day. And I had a bit of a headache when I woke up, listening to a radio would make it worse. I really just came to see if my pink scarf was in the lost and found. I wanted to wear it today, but I couldn't find it."
"Right," Murph said, letting out a low breath. "I forgot about that. No wonder we couldn't reach you. We put your scarf back in your room, by the way, for when you came back after weekend break."
"Thank you."
They reached a door at the end of the side hallway and Murph fumbled with a key card for a moment before swiping it against the scanner, and the door slid open, slamming shut behind them. Kate blinked, trying to adjust to the lack of light in the conference room, green map of Almia glowing faintly below them, as per usual. A man stood at the opposite end of the room, leaning against a table, frowning at the massive expanse of papers and files taking up the surface. He glanced up, mouth open, most likely to snap at them for interrupting, but nodded when he saw the two. "Kate. Murph."
"Professor," the chorused, joining the man at the table and Kate slid into a seat at the opposite end of the table, shedding her thick jacket and hanging it behind her, taking care to not jar the papers scattered on the table. She stared at the papers in front of her and leafed through the nearest file - reports on the last few months of Team Rocket activity.
"Looking for suspects?"
Murph grimaced and opened his mouth to speak, but Professor Hastings beat him to it.
"Yes," he said flatly, flipping another paper. "Unless we are absolutely certain about their whereabouts, anyone with a decently sized criminal history could be the culprit. Murph briefed you, correct?"
"Of course I did," the head of Public relations huffed, indignation clear, and Kate smiled gently to herself, letting it fade as she placed the file back where it was, leaning back to think. Team Rocket really did seem unlikely, probably why the professor had put it where it wouldn't get tangled with others. She folded her hands under her chin neatly, eyebrows furrowing. All the original administrators of that mess had been taken care of, in some way or another. There were rumors Giovanni was still at large, but Team Rocket had never operated in Sinnoh, only in Kanto and Johto. Then again, they could be expanding, but what reason would there be to bomb a league building? Any information stored there was stored various other places, and I was mostly a ceremonial building. Besides, bombs didn't quite seem like Team Rocket would pull. They were mostly focused on controlling Pokemon, and destroying the league had no connection. Professor Hastings probably already figured that out, Kate thought, shoulders tensing.
She spied a few other files, covers open so she could see the contents, obviously looked through. Teams Aqua and Magma were there, but practically about to fall off the table. That made sense, as a lot of former members joined the Union to help with nature preserves and ocean patrols, making it much easier to spot leaking oil lines. Team Galactic? That seemed likely. She remembered Kellyn bemoaning how too many grunts already bought into Cyrus's ideals, so it wouldn't be unlikely. Well . . .
"What about Team Plasma, in Unova?" Ugh, the name left a bad taste in her mouth.
"Looked into." The response was immediate. "Team Plasma has their hands full with Gym leaders cracking down on their organization, as well as the assistance of a few undercover Rangers, and if I've been informed correctly, the new Champion, but it is most definitely on the table."
"M'kay," Kate grinned, stifling a giggle at the pun. "Um, I've heard another Team is rising in Kalos?" Feels like everywhere is in some sort of trouble lately.
"Team Flare? We've been informed they are operating supposedly exclusively in Kalos, but we're watching for any hints regardless. It's very likely, considering some other information we've recovered."
Right. That left The Go-Rock Squad, which had been obliterated by Lunick and Solana years ago, Dim Sun - Kate shivered, hands tightening into fists - but only grunts with no real place to go or any foreseeable future lingered around with association with the team. They were long gone. That left one major team left that wasn't up-front associated with Orre, one team left that Kate could believe was the reason behind this.
Kate was quiet for a moment, then murmured lowly, "Could it be the Pokemon Pinchers?"
The words hung dangerously in the air. Hastings stopped mid-paper flip. Murph gulped. After all, it had only been a month since Ben and Summer had inadvertently saved the world from possible dictatorship and officially disbanded the band of poachers, but there were still steady reports of individual Pinchers roaming the regions and causing mayhem. Apparently, laying waste to a giant, ancient Sky Fortress and decimating the plans the Societea had been working on for years in a matter of weeks was still not enough to strike fear into the hearts of lower-level grunts, as Sven nicely put it. It would be no shock if they wanted revenge, a very unwise path, and bombed a well-known building full of innocent people when people would have their heads still turned to Oblivia, far away from the Ranger Union, in a region where it was all too easy to lose yourself in the mountainous terrain or escape by sea.
"We . . ." Hastings began slowly, being careful with his words, as if testing to see if the waters were safe or not. "We have given it much thought. While it would be logical to assume this, Jones and Hawkins-" Kate tensed. If the professor was using last names to refer to Ben and Summer, it means they went and did something he disapproved of. "-stood for the Pinchers and assured us that former administrator Blue Eyes had been in contact with a certain section of remaining grunts, who had connections with other certain sections, and managed to confirm that it was not the Pinchers that committed this act of terrorism, though some expressed little regret for not having thought of it sooner." Murph winced beside the professor. "While their word may or may not be taken for truth, we still have to suspect former administrator Red Eyes and the last remaining member of the Societea, Edward. It would be likely that one of those two did this, but Jones and Hawkins somehow found some reasoning to make it seem unlikely to be involved in this."
"Really?" Kate blinked. "From their initial reports, they really seemed to hate the Pinchers and Societea."
"Yes." Hastings handed her a particularly thick file beside him, and she rifled through it, going back to skim the first page. Her brow furrowed. Many of the lines were blacked out, unreadable. "As they continued to travel the region, according to them, strings started to come together in ways that do not exist." He pointed vaguely to the blacked out words. "There were certain things that the two wanted to keep secret, and, well . . ." He sighed and stroked his chin. "I understand their wanting to keep those certain things out of the official report."
"Okay," Kate started slowly, "but don't hate the-?"
"Believe me, they do," Hastings said sharply. "But according to Operative Hawkins-" Oh, an operative title in there. That was never good. "The bombing was not in Red Eyes's character-" Summer defending someone who kidnapped her and shot Ben out of the air? Definitely weird. "-and according to Operative Jones, he did have a authentic doctorate in medical works and was well respected as a doctor, blowing up a building with little to no significance to them was illogical. Despite the fact he was threatening an island full of people and tested it formerly on Dolce Island." The last part was muttered under his breath.
". . . Okay," Kate repeated, closing the file and letting it fall with a healthy 'thud' to the table. "That really doesn't add up."
"That's what we're saying," Murph replied, pulling up a chair himself. "The general opinion is that they're still shaken from what happened."
The Ranger suddenly found amazing interest in her boots, a soft brown color with beige trimming. She understood that feeling all too well. Her hands clenched the table edge, gritting her jaw. She recalled how she had reacted early this morning when she glanced up in the mirror for a split second, shrieking as she caught sight of pair of bright blue eyes, ones that stared dully back at her, the only source of light in a darkn-
"Kate!"
The girl startled back as Murph gently touched her shoulder, chair skidding loudly. Murph held both his hands in front of his chest as Kate gaped at him, hand still clutching the edge of the table. Hastings had his gaze intensely fixed on her, worry clouding his previous seriousness.
"Kate," Murph said again, more softly as the girl flinched away. "Do you want me to call Keith from Puel Town? He's out keeping track of Trainers that had to make the emergency stop at the docks, but we can have someone fill his spo-"
"No," she gasped, feeling her heart race just a little slower, uncurling her hands from the table. "No," she repeated, calmer, shoulders relaxing and pulling her jacket from the chair and pulling it around her, reassured by the feel of faux fur of the interior. "No, I'm good. I'm good. Let's . . ." She closed her eyes, trying to find the words. "Let's keep going." She opened her eyes again and raised her chin. Keith had work to do, and she could pull through. There was clearly a mission, and she was needed. If she needed to talk to him, they could make time later. "Where's Kellyn in all of this? I would have expected him to be here too." Her eyes flicked to the door, like she expected him to walk through at any given moment.
"No," Hastings replied, going back to his paper shuffle, tearing his eyes from the girl. "He was on standby when the alert came in, so we sent him out to see the wreckage and make a report as quickly as possible."
"Ah. So where do I fit into this?"
"You?" Hastings raised an eyebrow. "I leave that to Murph's discretion."
Uh oh. He'll keep me in-region for sure . . . Murph had always been one the most sensitive ones about Kate's flashbacks and episodes, and usually ended up wrapping her up in about fifty fluffy quilts and convincing Chairperson Erma to let her sit out of missions and excuse her from doing quests, as well as having a constant supply of hot chocolate on hand. Now that the chairperson-in-training had been giving explicit permission to be the one deciding where she needed to be, there was a low chance of getting back out into the field.
Kate met his stare, surprisingly stony and impassive for someone known for being the go-to person when they needed to vent and or reassurance of any kind, whether it be failing miserably on a mission or personal problems.
After a long minute, the man sighed, shoulders slumping. "Fine," he said flatly, and Kate perked up, heart soaring. "Kate, this is your official mission. Go to Sinnoh to meet up with Kellyn to get a hold on the situation, it's always better to have more than one opinion that isn't going to be clouded by a League Region's dislike for the Union. See if you can find any clues, any hints that would lead us back to whoever did this." He paused, as if debating something in his head, then said, "We have Operators looking through databanks only the peoples caught in this explosion, and we're researching their backgrounds, to see if they could have any potential connection with the bomber. I heard there are survivors, so if are fit to questioning, that'll be your job, you've always been the best at getting people to talk and open up." The last bit was said in a chuckle. "We'll call down to Puel Harbor, have a ship prepped for you. You've got five hours to get ready. Good luck, Ranger." He straightened and gave a mock salute, arm over chest.
Kate mimicked him, standing up to place her own right fist, face set. Off on yet another advent-
"PROFESSOR HASTINGS! MURPH!"
. . . huh?
The three spun around as an Operator sprinted through the doorway, bending over to take a huge breath of air before standing upright, practically screaming, "NEW INFORMATION HAS BEEN DISCOVERED ABOUT CHAMPION CYN-"
"MARCUS!" Hastings bellowed back, slamming his hands down on the table and whipping around to face the man, who paled and reached blindly behind him for the door. There was an awkward silence before Hastings prompted, gesturing wildly, "Well, what is it?!"
"I - uh, I - there's, uh," Marcus sputtered, nearly dropping the thin laptop he held tightly to his chest. "We, uh found something on Cynthia Shiro we thought you might be interested in - I mean, it's a connection to Orre, and somebody, but we'd-" He gave up trying to speak, resolutely shutting his mouth and thrusting the laptop forward.
Murph grabbed the laptop and opened it, Hastings hastily hurrying around to peer over Murph's shoulder, and Kate came around to look over Murph's other shoulder as he typed in the password, blank blue screen giving way to an expanse of text. Kate narrowed her eyes; this was Cynthia's profile. "Marcus? What's you find?"
"Click on that link," he said confidently, a sharp contrast from his stuttering self just five seconds ago, pointing at a link on the screen, the text a slightly light gray. The arrow hovered over the sentence for a second, giving Kate just enough time to read it: . . . around the time Cynthia's adoptive sister, Nao . . .
Then Murph clicked the touchpad on the keyboard, the screen flashing for a moment, before leading them to another profile, this one significantly smaller; there wasn't even a scrolling bar.
"So, Murph started, reading through the article faster than Kate could register what the first sentence said, "Cynthia has an adoptive sister?" He angled the laptop so he could read the article again, sliding into a chair, rendering Kate unable to see.
"Adoptive sister?" Kate tilted her head. "I've never heard she had a sister."
"That's because," Murph said, frowning, "she disappeared. There almost no record of where she came from, what her medical records are, parents, anything, meaning her local records were either forged-"
"Or deleted."
"Exactly, Marcus. Kate, it just says, summarized, Cynthia's grandmother was named her legal guardian should something happen to her parents, and she eventually ended up in Cynthia's care from ages seven to ten, when she started going off on her own for weeks at a time. On the day she turned thirteen, she disappeared, and was never heard from again. Not until a year and a half later when her name was mentioned by a concussed thieve that was sent out to Orre by an anonymous person. When he came back around, he denied knowing anyone of her name, despite the words being very clear. He said, 'It was her . . . she's looking for him . . . I misinformed her . . . and she told me it would be an easy grab . . . she lied . . . I lied . . . you should look for her, she never leaves Orre, she's too ashamed to face Cyn . . . look for Naomi DiAngelo.' And that's pretty much all there is."
Silence again. Until, "Marcus, Kate."
The Ranger immediately stopped tugging on the edge of her dress, and her voice hardened, as did Marcus's. "Yes, professor?"
"Marcus, send a request to Sinnoh's government. Tell them to link us to their local records. We may have found someone involved in this incident. Whether they are the culprit or not is unclear, but it is a possibility. Tell them Operators will be arriving shortly to dig through every library and newspapers they have left from the past twenty-one years - scratch that, however far back they can go. Look for any family bearing the surname of DiAngelo, and track down the family line."
He turned to look at Kate, who had been standing at attention. "Kate, you, Keith, Kellyn, and I will go to Orre." Ignoring Murph's strangled gasp of objection, he continued, "Orre's government has always been . . . fairly amiable to the Ranger Union, given it helped oversee its formation-" Well, that was news to Kate. "-and perhaps it could assist us in this instance. There is always an open phone line for the Ranger Regions in Phenac City with someone waiting, if I'm up to date, so I will call and work something out. Kate, you have six hours to prepare, or less. Dismissed."
Wow, this is a long prologue. Kinda? :P
Anyways, some brief notes since it may have been blurry/plot points that may come up: 1] the Oblivia Incident happened roughly one year after the Dim Sun fiasco 2] since there's no official timeline, I guestimated that Team Plasma (the first time) was defeated sometime halfway through Team Flare's plot 3] The Ranger Regions (Oblivia, Almia, Fiore; "RR"), League Regions (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, Kalos; "LR"), and Orre all have somewhat separate governments. While the RR while work with the LR in instances like these, they're normally kinda hostile to each other, since Unova instigated a war with Orre and most regions ended up taking sides. The end result left Orre incredibly wary of the other regions and very unwilling to have government operatives from any other region on their ground. But since the RR ended up being allied with Orre in the end, they might make an exception for a little bit. ((4] the "things" that happened during the Oblivia Incident ... that little bit right there was a shout-out to Aftermath, which is much more than it seems, I assure you, but I don't think it'll have much importance on the plot))
Anyways, fave, follow, and review please!