After Orre

by LurkMore

Wes and Rui defeated Cipher, saved all the Shadow Pokemon and admitted their feelings for each other. What did they do next and where were they during Cipher's insurrection five years later. A post-Colosseum story.

1. Prologue

A/N: And so we begin. All rights to Nintendo/Game Freak/Genius Society

My name is Wesley Leo Thomas though I have been called many names in my life. For I time I was known simply as 'Boy' or 'Runt' when I was a rookie member of Team Snagem, another one of Gonzap's "motivational" techniques. During my war with Cipher, the Orre News Network later dubbed me 'El Cruzador," the merciless desert warrior who defeated everyone in his way. Cipher called me 'Saint' Wes, mocking my desire to save the Shaodw Pokemon I helped create. My girlfriend calls me Wessie. But the most common name I have been called in my life is 'Thief.'

I have always been a thief. At first I stole to survive the harsh deserts of Orre. Then I stole because I was quite good at it and no one could tell me otherwise. When I changed my life around, I stole for a noble cause, to save all the Pokemon from a terrible fate and help right some the wrongs I caused as a thief. But I saved my greatest act of thievery for last. I stole the heart of the woman who was always by my side, who believed in me when I didn't even believe in myself. The woman who was my partner on the great crusade and fought with me, through all the blood, sweat, and tears. Rui was always an afterthought in the minds of some people, but I could never have accomplished anything without her. She is my rock and my greatest joy in life.

If you are reading this, then despite my best efforts Cipher is back and still up to their old tricks. If you are reading this, then I am somewhere far away from the deserts of Orre. I could be far away in another land or my actions finally caught up to me and I am dead in a backwater ditch somewhere. It has been a good run. Hopefully my snag machine has been destroyed, it is simply too dangerous of a weapon in the hands of most people. If Cipher ever got it back, the results would be devastating.

You all know my story. The Desert Crusader who came from nowhere and singlehandedly stopped the vicious crime syndicate known as Cipher and their Shadow Pokemon scheme. But I am not a hero, just another Orre goon with some talent raising Pokemon. Orre knows my story by now. Duking and the kids made sure of that. They propped me up as a great figure, as an inspiration to Orre to what one man could do. I was a sign that there was a path other than crime, of what Orre could be if people opened their minds and believed in each other. I was to represent a better future for that desert land.

This is a not a record of my fight against Cipher, this is a record of what came after. After Orre.