Harry watched as the mature, professional, intelligent professors that stood around him turned into gibbering Mankeys. When the computer had declared him the 8th champion the Great Hall had descended into utter chaos. Some students were cheering him on, thinking he'd managed to play the mother of all practical jokes and get his name in. Others were enraged, seeing this as another attempt on his part to be the center of attention; Harry had never seen a furious Hufflepuff before and the looks he'd gotten had left him shrinking. The other schools were confused, annoyed, tense, and wrathful; sometimes a mixture of the four in various dosages.

Dumbledore, seeing what was happening, called for calm but the students merely kept yelling over each other. The adults were doing little better in keeping their calm. Finally Prof McGonagall had stood on her chair and roared, "The next person to speak will cost their house or school 1000 points!"

The noise level went from 100 to 0 in .001 seconds.

With order somewhat restored the Headmaster had asked the visiting headmasters, Alastor Moody, Harry's Head of House, Prof. Snape, and Prof. Crouch to come with him, leaving Prof. Vector to watch over the students with Dinatha and Jonas Kenway volunteering to help keep the teens entertained. Dumbledore led the large group into an empty classroom only for the headmasters to promptly begin talking over each other, voices rising as tempers flared up. Prof. Karkaroff thought this was a sign that the school was in danger and was threatening to sue them all if he was killed. Prof. Lazio made a comment that Harry had clearly decided to cheat his way into the tournament; the flamboyant Hoenn headmaster suddenly found himself nose to nose with Prof. Snape, who did not take kindly to his nephew being insulted like that. Alastor Moody was blaming everyone and anyone for the incident while Drayden and Lance debated with Dumbledore and McGonagall if they should redo the selections. Cynthia was trying to get everyone to calm down with little success while Prof. Crouch was drawing strange calculations on a white board.

And through it all Jack Kenway sat with his hands folded just under his nose, watching it all from hooded eyes.

Harry sat in the corner, the focus of their agitation while at the same time forgotten by them all. His mind was a complete blank and every time he tried to form a thought it seemed like a new voice would rise up and beat down his thoughts before they could take shape. He felt small and empty, like a little vase left to gather dust on an otherwise barren shelf. No one bothered to ask his opinion or get his side of things; they all just assumed they knew the story and defended their viewpoint against all other challengers. He wanted to clap his hands over his ears until the noise went away and-

A high-pitched, teeth trembling screech filled the air, causing all the feuding adults to do as Harry wanted and cover their ears in pain.

The source of the sonic attack was Cynthia's nailed scrapping down a chalkboard. She dragged out the auditory assault, wanting to ensure she had their full attention.

"Now then... are we all going to act like adults?" Cynthia said, her words utterly frosty as she swept her eyes across the gathering of headmasters and professors. She casually brought her hand up to inspect her nails, her lips pursed as she glared at them group. "We need to figure out how this happened and what we're going to do about it. We will not scream and rant and rave like lunatics."

"It is clear that the boy entered so Avalon could have two champions!" Karkaroof complained. "The boy-"

"I didn't enter!" Harry shouted, finally shaking himself from his shock. "I didn't," he said, a touch quieter.

Karkaroff glared at Harry and took a step forward. "Who are you to raise your voice at me, you-"

Jack let out a laugh. "Oh, this is so rich it should be bloody fattening. You tremble like a Skitty most of your life and the only time you find your courage is when you try to bully a child? If it weren't so sad I'd find it hilarious. Instead I find myself annoyed." He raised his hand, flexing his fingers. "And the funny thing is when I get annoyed people have this tendency to… die."

Karkaroff opened his mouth but Lazio let out a snort. "Oh yes, Igor, argue with the assassin who has an airship just offshore... I'm sure Sinnoh will last a long time once Jack declares war against you."

The Sinnoh headmaster suddenly realized just what he was doing and quickly backed away from Harry, his eyes wide with fright. The Father of Johto snorted, utterly disgusted by the coward. "Now then, can we all, at the very least, agree that Mr. Potter is telling the truth and his name was entered by a third party seeking to do him harm."

"And how do you figure that?" Drayden asked. "I've seen plenty of children deny a prank when the reaction was less than satisfactory."

It was Snape who answered. "Look at the boy, you dunderheads. He's trembling like a leaf and close to going into shock. Hardly the actions of a prankster thrilled with his success or trying to backpedal." He moved in placed his hand on Harry's shoulder, squeezing it ever so slightly. "So yelling at him is not the wisest course of action."

Barty raised his hand. "I think it would be a better use of our time to figure out how this happened rather than debate the proper means of dealing with children and the pranks they may or may not have committed."

"Prof. Crouch is right," Dumbledore said, taking control of the conversation. "I too believe that Harry did not enter his name into the tournament. As such, we must ask ourselves so tough questions. What if this is merely the first error we noticed with the selection? We must take a look and ensure that there is nothing else wrong with the program."

"There isn't anything wrong with it," Moody complained even as Prof. Lazio and Cynthia went to get the computer from the Great Hall. "I had that thing working perfectly."

"Which is why an underage student was entered in this blasted tournament," Jack said bluntly. "Bloody hell, maybe Jasmine's name wasn't supposed to be selected either."

"You sound... pleased at that thought," Drayden said, tugging on his moustache.

"Of course I am! I didn't want her within a hundred feet of this blasted thing! Little minx decided to enter despite me telling her not too!" John ground his teeth together. "Sneaky little-"

"Takes after you then, Jack," Lance said, earning a growl from the Father.

Barty gestured at Jack. "That is why we must determine what happened. We must see if there were other errors with the selection process. If we don't this entire tournament will be tainted."

"Ain't nothing wrong with it," Moody argued again before letting out a sigh. "But if would make all you whimpering fools happy, we can take a peak."

"Thank you for giving us permission," Cynthia said sarcastically as she pushed in a cart with the computer on it.

"Excellent!" Barty said, grabbing the cart away from Cynthia and pushing it to the center of room, reaching into his pocket. He paused though, looking about the room.

"What is it?" Lazio asked.

"I was waiting for that little blonde girl to pop up and make another outrageous claim that I am some alien from a planet called Gallifrey." Barty shrugged. "Maybe I finally gave her the slip. Delightful mind, yes, but a tad stalkerish for me. Alright then, let's take a look." Taking out his dex he took out a thick black cable and plugged his dex into the computer. "Need to get hardwired to see if I can figure out what's making this thing tick when it is suppose to tock... WiFi just lacks the personal touch." The screen flickered and the gathered headmasters all leaned forward, watching as the screen began to display a jumble of names and symbols. "Hmmm... odd readings."

Harry began to get out of his chair but found himself forced back down. He looked up to find Lance Blackthorn staring at the screen, his eyes blazing with intensity as he pushed Harry behind him, head jutted forward like some bird of prey.

"Now that's odd... something's trying to keep me out," Barty said. "Auror Moody, what firewall protection was installed on this device?"

Moody grunted. "Hell if I know. Left it up to the eggheads at the Ministry to deal with it. If I remember right I think your father was the one who got that little task passed to him and his team." He gestured at the screen, which was filling with static. "You ain't breaking it, are you? Don't need those pencil pushing idiots whining in my ear about their little toy getting busted."

"I think it was already busted if it let Mr. Potter put his name it," Lazio stated.

"You mean someone else put his name it," Snape countered.

Lance took a step forward, releasing Harry's shoulder and holding his hand out. "Jack... I need a knife."

The Father of Johto stared at his former friend. "What the hell-" The screen flashed and the computer let out a screech as the static condensed down into two bars, one shorted than the other. The electronic cry grew harsher, sounding more and more like a primal scream.

"JACK!" Lance roared, racing forward. Old instincts kicked in and Jack pulled a long bowie knife from a hidden sheathe in his boot, tossing it to Lance who caught it with practiced ease. The Head of the Daggertooth Academy lunged forward, slicing the cable that connected Barty's dex to the computer. "Get back!"

Barty gasped. "Rude!"

"And not a ginger!" Luna said, poking her head in. "Sorry I'm late I-" The computer let out another screech and black light began to shoot out of the severed cable, making it twitch like a Octillery's tentacle. "-nevermind, you're busy."

None of the room's occupants paid any heed to Luna hastily shutting the door; their focus was on the energy that was consolidating into a solid form in front of them. The creature that emerged from the raw energy was unlike anything Harry had ever seen before. The first thing he noticed as the creature's large bulbous horned head. It seemed too big for its tiny body and was dominated by massive red eyes that seemed to flicker with twisted glee. While its body was small its limbs were grotesquely long and thin, hanging from its body like dangling ropes. Each one ended in a pair of short claws, giving Harry the impression of four twisting, swaying whips with barbed knives attached to each end. Upon its back was a pair of strange pointed wings that appeared to be more decoration than anything. The creature certainly didn't need them to fly; it did well on its own, hovering in front of them like a poltergeist watching the assembled headmasters and professors. The more Harry looked at it the more he was reminded of Hermione's Celebi, though mutated and deformed.

"Mio Dio!" Lazio exclaimed, taking a step back. "What is it?'

"A trickster and a nuisance at the best of times, a menace at the worse," Lance said grimly. "Yet another byproduct of Team Rocket's meddling left to curse the world. Something that should have never been."

"Speak English, damn it!" Drayden shouted as the strange Pokémon suddenly lashed out, nearly striking the Unovian with its claws. It threw back its head and though it had no mouth let out a screeching laugh. "What the hell is this thing?"

"MissingNo," Lance said, pushing up his sleeve and revealing for the first time a strange metal bracelet. It reminded Harry of a Mega Stone Holder but it was wider and looked more hi-tech. "A viral Pokémon, able to live in Cyberspace or in the real world. Stay back!" Prof. McGonagall leapt away as MissingNo fired off a blast of energy at her. "Don't get near it! If it gets into your dexs it could spread through the network!"

"What do we do, Lance?" Cynthia asked as the headmasters began to form a defensive position.

Lance said something but Harry didn't hear him. The teen found himself staring into MissingNo's eyes, the deep red orbs drawing him in. He dimly realized that he was being drawn into the Speaker's Realm and his ears filled with a terrible staticy squeal as MissingNo seemed to grow and swell, taking up the entire world. Its form seemed to be constantly changing, becoming first a phantom, then two towers, then a skeletal beast. The buzzing grew louder and Harry felt as if he had been picked up and was being spun about before tossed into a great dark maw to forever be consumed, never able to escape-

"YOU DARE?!"

Light suddenly exploded from Harry's left and the boy whipped around, eyes wide in shock as the spell MissingNo had wrapped him in was broken. It took him a moment to realize the blazing glow was coming from Cynthia. Her hair was caught in a mystical breeze and her pale skin had a green tint to it as an ethereal light radiated around her. Her eyes were black as pitch with two white points at the center and as she spoke it felt to Harry like the world was coming to an end. He had only gotten a taste of the power of a Veela in the aborted timeline from a year ago… now, much like with Jack, he was witnessing what a master could do.

"YOU DARE ATTACK A CHILD IN MY PRESENCE, MONSTER?!" Cynthia roared, her voice distorted as waves of anger poured from her. MissingNo held its ground but instantly released its grip on Harry's mind. He stumbled back and found himself caught by Jack; looking back at him Harry saw that once more the Speaking Master's mask had fallen away, revealing Jack's true self to the world. His eyes flashed and his lips curled back as he let out a growl, talon-like hands pulling Harry away from MissingNo. MissingNo looked back and forth between the two, realizing that it was facing two beings far beyond the normal humans it mocked and toyed with. "I AM THE MISTRESS OF THE VEELAS AND I COMMAND YOU TO LEAVE! BEGONE, TRICKSTER, AND I'LL CONSIDER LETTING YOU LIVE!"

MissingNo merely cackled and began to rush about the room, the Speaker's Realm fading away as the world returned. The other headmasters, save Jack and Cynthia, ducked out of its path; MissingNo did not get near the enraged Veela and one swipe of Jack's hand taught it to keep away from the Speaker. The viral Pokemon made a move for the door, blood oozing from the gashes it had gained, only to let out a screech of pain when Lance fired a laser from his bracelet, striking it and causing its skin to blister and burn.

"Concentrated energy designed to act as an antivirus, designed with just you in mind," Lance said as he took a step forward, forcing MissingNo to back away from him and towards the computer it had escaped. "Hurts, doesn't it? Just like all the pain you've caused." MissingNo let out a cry of annoyance and turned towards Cynthia, who merely responded by sending a wave or raw emotion at the creature. The viral Pokemon let out a final howl and fled back into the computer, the screen flickering several times.

Moody responded by slamming a small chair against the monitor.

The device hissed and cracked and an electronic squeal not unlike a death rattle came from the device before its screen went to black.

Harry panted, eyes wide with fright.

"Prof. Snape, take the boy," Jack said, allowing his 'mask' to fall back into place once more. Harry suddenly found himself for the first time being fiercely hugged by his uncle, Snape muttering about foolish children even as he held Harry tight. "He's in shock... he's lucky to be alive; bloody thing had my skin crawling and I wasn't the main target." Jack rolled his shoulder, revealing a nasty gash that was weeping a fair amount of blood. "Damn thing got me good."

"What in Merlin's name was all that?" McGonagall demanded while Drayden forced Jack to sit down, pulling off his jacket and shirt so he could examine the wound. Dumbledore was already on his dex, calling for Poppy to come at once, his face pale as he realized that a headmaster had been injured in his school.

"MissingNo," Lance said sternly as he turned off his antiviral bracelet. "Yet another attempt by Team Rocket to creature a legendary."

"Bloody hell, at least all I did was blow up some buildings," Jack hissed as Drayden probed the wound. "I didn't go meddling with genetics. Didn't the buggers learn anything from Mewtwo?"

"Apparently not," Lance said. "MissingNo was their attempt to manipulate fossilized Celebi DNA. Prof. Oak believes that they combined Weavile DNA as well as some Togekiss genes and Porygon RNA. Ended up making a Dark/Fairy hybrid that breeds through infecting electronics. Likes to screw with Silph Scopes, making itself look like a skeleton or a ghost. Good thing we managed to stop it; they breed through infecting other devices. We've managed to isolate them near Cinnabar but they still manage to cause small outbreaks from time to time."

"Well, it's dead now," Moody said with a grunt.

"Why did you do that?" Barty complained.

"You wanted to let it live?" Karkaroff complained, finally leaving the corner of the room he'd fled to the moment MissingNo had attacked.

Barty scoffed. "I'm not that naive. I know that there are certain creatures that can't be reasoned with... they just don't care. But there was so much we could have learned from it."

"Like who put Mr. Potter's name into the drawing," Cynthia said, having long returned to normal. She moved over to the boy and Prof. Snape, feeling their conflicting emotions as easily as one might feel a breeze upon their cheeks. She sent a gentle wave of positive emotions towards them before speaking. "Whoever did that went out of their way to cover their tracks."

"And were willing to cause a lot of pain to do it," Drayden said. "We'll need to be prepared."

Jack reached into his hood and retrieved an earpiece. "Jonas, do you read me?" He paused a moment before continuing. "I need you to inform Tyrone we're going to need to work something out with the Avalon government. I want some of your best hoods here asap."

"Jack, could you see about a few for us as well?" Cynthia asked. "At least until I can get my Elite 4 to wake up and send support."

Lazio rubbed his chin. "I'll have to begin arranging some security of my own. A few more lovelies and strapping young men to protect us... and provide some eye candy."

"Gentlemen, ladies, please," Prof. Dumbledore said, holding out his hands. "There is no need for that. I assure you that Avalon can keep the peace-"

"You've done a bloody well good job of it so far; I so enjoy having a deranged genetic legendary Pokemon try and claw my clavicle out," Jack grunted, grabbing his coat and making for the door. Poppy arrived at that moment but he merely motioned for her to go inside and check to others. "I'll send word when the Hoods arrive. Lance!" Jack unhooked his bowie knife's sheathe and tossed it to his former friend. "No carrying a weapon? You've gotten soft in old age."

Lance merely gave Jack a nod, silently thanking him for the words that weren't said.

"Prof. Kenway!" McGonagall called out. "We aren't finished yet."

Drayden frowned. "What else do we need to do? We've already been attacked once... you want to try it again."

"There is the matter of Mr. Potter," Crouch reminded them. "I think what we saw here is proof he did not enter his name."

"It isn't," Karkaroff charged.

"You believe Potter placed the MissingNo in the computer?" Snape sneered.

"Or someone else placed it there to help Mr. Potter get away with entering the tournament." The Sinnoh headmaster gave Snape a long cold stare.

"Moron," Snape snapped. "I would not have Harry anywhere near this tournament and there is no one else that would think he should compete."

"I don't know," Lazio said with a smirk. "Mind be good for a lark."

"We need to redraw!" Cynthia exclaimed.

"The hell we will!" Drayden snapped, startling everyone. "Just remove Potter! I am thrilled with Iris being champion."

"You can't be serious," Lance argued.

Drayden nodded, his cheeks flush and beard practically quivering as he spoke. "Yes, I am! For all we know this is an elaborate con to ensure that certain regions suffer by having their best student sidelined."

"Then we just remove Potter," Cynthia argued.

"Not possible," Moody grunted. "The rules state that it is an all or nothing deal... and none of the chosen champions could be selected in the new round."

"Oh, come now," Barty said, rolling his eyes. "Brokens were made to be ruled."

"Kenway!" Karkaroff shouted as Jack attempted once more to leave. "Boy! What say you about the Potter brat-"

"Lord."

"Excuse me?" the Sinnoh headmaster said.

Jack slowly turned, thunder in his eyes. "I am Lord Jack Alexander Kenway, future head of the Ancient and Legendary House of Kenway, Lord of Olivine, Duke of Blackthorn, third in line to be lord of Cianwood, acting Regent of the Ancient and Noble House of Ironside, Lord Protector and Father of Johto, Conqueror of Sevii, and Headmaster of Olivine Point." With each word Jack had taken a step forward until he was nose to nose with Karkaroff, who was trembling at the rage-filled visage of Jack Kenway. "And the 'brat' is Lord Harry James Potter, future head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter and heir and future head of the Ancient and Noble House of Black; heir to the title of Lord of Sevii Isle and adopted child of Johto... MY Johto. We are in the company of Lord Lance Blackthorn, head of the Ancient House of Blackthorn, Cynthia Malfoy, Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy, to name a few. You are a criminal who followed an attempted baby-killer and only escaped justice because you named names." He leaned in and hissed, "You ever talk like that to anyone again when I'm in earshot and I'll tear yoru goddamn throat out with my teeth." He snapped his jaws, the click making Karkaroff pass out in fright. "Pillock. Now then, my students are throwing a party for Jasmine to celebrate her being selected for this madness. I plan to bloody well enjoy myself... even if I'm a bloody mess."

"Jack!" Cynthia called out. "What about Mr. Potter?"

Jack didn't bother to turn around. "How about we let him decide what he does?"

Harry stared after Jack as the rest of the adults began to squabble and bicker once more about the tournament. He found it utterly sad that the only one that seemed to care about his thoughts was the half-crazy revolutionary.

~MC~MC~MC~

Author's Notes: A whole lot of stuff happened in this chapter. We got to see a whole lot more of the other headmasters and more of how they interact with each other. We also got something a bit different from canon, with Harry actually getting some support from others. Too bad everyone is so concerned with fighting with each other that they don't bother to ask Harry how he feels about being dragged into this mess.

We've spent a lot of time looking at Speakers over the last few chapters so I wanted to get a look at Veelas in this chapter. I wanted to show that they could also rival Speakers in power and here we got a hint of what Luna may become one day once she has full mastery of her powers.

But probably the biggest reveal was the introduction of MissingNo's true form. The design I originally had in mind was much more Mothman like but when ForeverAwesomeDragon did the first drawing MissingNo looked like a mutant Celebi and I fell in love with the design. It also fit perfectly with what had happened with mewtwo and I decided, since MissingNo also originates from Cinnabar, to make it a second attempt by Team Rocket to create a legendary.

The idea behind MissingNo is it is a viral pokemon that is a trickster… kinda like the Pokemon version of Peeves. When a trainer stumbles upon it the pokemon makes the Silph Scope act up, causing it to appear as static, a skeleton, or a ghost. It also causes errors to a trainer's dex, including messing up the records within (including their inventory lists). This is how MissingNo breeds: by infected a dex it creates a new MissingNo that then seeks to infect more dexes. It is currently illegal to catch a MissingNo though Silph is currently close to creating a special viral Pokeball that will remove MissingNo's more… wicked tendencies… and ensure it can't breed via infection.

As for the names for the Grassassin line, I want to give you guys one more round to send in any final name ideas before I decide.