A/N: Fenrir's Phantom, I didn't mind the suggestion at all, just that I have sort of thought of a few things already, but I do like other suggestions also!
Thomdolt, the second Gym Leader, did not look very impressive at all. True, he was well past pushing six feet, but he had an unremarkable bland face, and his clothes were neat and ordered, but otherwise much indistinguishable from the clothes of his factory workers: a white shirt whose sleeves could be rolled back, and black trousers with a belt and several pockets for various tools.
The only thing that set him apart was that his shirt was spotless and bright, unlike the workers whose were dull and stained from the coal smoke and other pollutants emitted by his factories.
Much like Thomdolt himself, his territory was not impressive. It included Route 205 and Cinnamon City, however the bulk of it was made of the Industrial Area, a huge swath of factories that doubled up as a port where everything that was manufactured was placed on ships and sent to other parts of Galea by the fifth Gym Leader, Wade.
Or at least, that was how it normally went. There had been a newcomer to the eight Gym Leader's thirty-two years of uninterrupted reign, and Marley had recently been deposed of. Most of the other Gym Leaders currently accused Wade of being the one who had caused this change, and so the docks were currently empty and trade had been halted, at least by sea routes.
He was currently waiting for a phone call regarding the matter to conference with the others. Phone calls were always the Gym Leaders preferred method of communication as they were loathe to leave their territories where they were sovereign.
"Sir, the conference is online," one of his workers said. Thomdolt never bothered learning their names, they all pretty much looked the same to him in their ragged outfits, save for his highest officers who were distinguished by their conspicuously cleaner uniforms.
Thomdolt's office was quite Spartan, though of course it was spotless clean. Two phones had been set up, one showed Selena, and the other Linnea, the fourth Gym Leader. She was a short, though pretty enough woman with long green hair tied up and wearing an equally extravagant kimono.
None of them seemed to have aged a second in the last thirty-two years.
"So, what are we doing, besides boycotting Wade?" Thomdolt asked. "And are you even sure that he's responsible?"
"As sure as I can be," Selena said. "I told you about the Pokedex earlier. Whoever did this was able to get the Elite Four's recordings, and mess with the barrier. As we all know, the barrier has always been weak near the ocean, because it is almost impossible to regulate millions of gallons of water actively trying to flow out. The water is allowed to run out and mix with water from oceans outside Galea, though no living thing and most inanimate objects too cannot cross it. It means that the barrier is still weaker compared to other areas though, so he may have found a way to manipulate it as his realm includes most of the ocean."
"Pah," Thomdolt said. "He always had sympathy for the Elite Four and regret for what we did."
"He has denied any involvement though," Linnea said. "And I fail to see what he gains through this…"
"I suppose we'll just find out later," Selena said. "The main deal is what we are to do to this Ash Ketchum. As you are no doubt aware, he is not bound by the constraints of the Accord as we are. I would say that our immediate action is to boycott selling anything to his domain, and as you, Thomdolt, make most of our manufactured goods, and Linnea controls the majority of our harvests, his people will starve eventually until he comes to terms with us."
"That sounds like the opposite of what we should be doing," Thomdolt said. "If we starve him out, he'll just be forced to attack us. And if he's being manipulated like a puppet, nothing is going to stop him from carrying out his campaign against us, which will start with me as my territory borders his."
"Then it would best that you avoid him," Linnea said. "Don't let him challenge you. I doubt you'll be up for the mark."
Thomdolt snarled. "I am more prepared for him than that sloth Marley! If he does challenge me, I will not be defeated!"
There was a reason for Thomdolt's anger. He was always seen as a weak Trainer by the others, mainly because he hadn't gained his Gym Badge by winning a battle like the others.
No, Thomdolt belonged to a long family line from a society known as the Assassins, who had several centuries ago perfected a toxin that would bypass the wards that the Badges used to protect their masters when ingested, and had so contributed to the fall of the Heiro Dynasty. They had subsequently set up a fortress that still stood, called the Gliscor's Nest, and were able to retain a bit of autonomy due to the political instability of the time and by threatening to kill the Gym Leaders. Eventually though they were hunted down and sent into obscurity and poverty at the margins of society, with Thomdolt's family being one of the last of the existing line.
When Thomdolt's father died when he was just sixteen, he passed on the knowledge of making the poison to him. Thomdolt then disguised himself as a servant and worked in the former Gym Leader's household as a tea server for six years before he got his chance and slipped what he had made into her wine glass. While it is normal for rulers in various places to have their food tasted, the Gym Leaders had not generally done so in that time as they thought their Badges would protect them and that the Assassins were but a distant memory.
Once she was dead and the Badge unclaimed, Thomdolt took it.
He knew though what the other Gym Leaders, and the rest of Galea in general thought of him. That he had won his Badge not through battle, but through cowardice.
Not to mention the others were no doubt frightened of him, and of anyone who could potentially kill them, never mind that the Accord prevented them from killing, kidnapping, or imprisoning each other. As such all of them probably had their food tasted as a precaution.
"I can't even deal with him in that way," Thomdolt said. "He's already a Gym Leader, and what we can do against him is now quite limited. This problem wouldn't have happened, Selena, if you had just lent Marley a Pokemon like he had asked for."
"Oh really?" Selena asked. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Marley also ask the two of you for help in that regard? Why didn't you give him one of your Pokemon?"
"Well, I raise my Pokemon with care, and I wouldn't want someone else to-" Linnea said.
"And I wouldn't want anyone else taking the creatures which I with so much effort trained-" Thomdolt began.
"Exactly," Selena said, interrupting both of them. "We all thought that. And that is why Marley fell. We can't do anything about that now."
"In that case," Thomdolt said, "I'll gladly accept a challenge from this Ash Ketchum. He won't be able to prevail against me, not with my special rule."
"Perhaps," Selena said. "Then again, he could just as well defeat you completely. Are you sure it wouldn't be safer and more prudent to hide?"
Thomdolt snorted. "I'm not scared of a child."
"Have you been training hard then?" Linnea asked.
Thomdolt's arrogance seemed to go down a notch. "Perhaps not as much as I should have, I was busy with the factory work and all, but I am certain I'm much more of a match for him than Marley was."
"So be it," Selena said.
"But, this doesn't solve our other problem," Linnea said. "How did this child get here in the first place? Is not the barrier weakened? What is His Majesty doing about this?"
Selena rolled her eyes. "I cannot reach him. Telephones don't work in his domain, and the last message I got from him was over two years ago. He's probably far too busy playing with his concubines to notice anything of what's going on, as usual, leaving us, well, mostly me, to deal with this problem." She then signed off.
Thomdolt and Linnea didn't. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Linnea asked.
"Yes," Thomdolt said. "Selena's plan of starving this new ruler's land is going to end up badly. Much better than that is we talk to him directly and negotiate a deal."
"She is not going to like that," Linnea said.
"Yes," Thomdolt said, "but there isn't much she can do about it. I suppose we should place the call right now."
The screen previously showing Selena was now showing a loading screen, as it attempted to connect to the telephone that had previously belonged to Marley.
A/N: As for bringing someone else in, that's probably going to happen later, maybe after the Thomdolt arc. I thought of bringing Team Rocket because they're in every single episode, but I can consider others as well. Also, the assassins mentioned are based off the ancient Order of the Assassins, who killed in a manner similar to how Thomdolt did and lived in various fortresses, their headquarters being at Alamut or 'The Eagle's Nest.'