Volkner is the most Problematic member of the Thirteen Pillars with a capital P.

He's lazy, irritating, laidback, couldn't seem to be bothered with any of his Gym Leader duties and his only redeemable qualities are his abilities as a trainer. Upon second thought, Candice can grudgingly admit that his presence did help to improve Sunyshore, but other than that?

She really cannot see anything good about him no matter how she squinted her eyes and tried.

That's why she was so surprised that Volkner actually initiated a meeting among the thirteen of them. It's not a physical meeting, but rather one held through video call and over a heavily secured communication line given the nature of their statuses. That's not important. What is important is the fact that Volkner was the one who initiated it. The one person who always either skipped or slept through their meetings actually initiated a meeting among them on his own accord. A miracle had happened. The sun really rose from the west this time round.

All of them are busy people, so the only free time they have is the dead of the night when most of them have completed their daily duties as members of Sinnoh's Thirteen Pillars.

"Yo, wassup."

"Wassup? You don't initiate a meeting like this and wassup us, Volkner. What is it?" Fantina quipped back over the screen. Everyone is obviously worried about what is so important that Volkner actually insisted to talk to all thirteen of them about it.

"Alright, long story short. I got permission from Ashley to wipe out Team Galactic for good, fast and furious Volkner style. Just thought that I should give you guys a heads up before I start rampaging across all of your cities. So don't be too surprised if I drop by and say hello every now and then."

"Hold it right there, Volkner." Cynthia immediately cut in upon hearing those words. "Team Galactic is no small-time criminal organisation. We need-"

"Excuse you, I am the expert here when it comes to anything crime related." Volkner argued back, obviously irritated. "This is not up for discussion. I'm just informing you guys out of the goodness in my heart. If you have complaints, take it up to Ashley. She approved this and gave me full control of the entire situation."

"Hey, you have to admit that all of these come a little too sudden for us. Team Galactic appeared like, one or two months ago? And suddenly we are talking about a large-scale operation to clean them all up without any prior context?" Gardenia made her opinion known rather loudly, breaking up the impending argument between Volkner and Cynthia.

"Right, context." Volkner drawled out with a roll of his eyes as images started to pop up on their screen one after the other. "Number one, the siege on my city, where I was forced to go Mega on my gyarados to repel all the enraged wild pokemon. Investigations confirmed that Team Galactic was behind this. They gathered a bunch of poachers with the excuse of looting the city during all the supposed chaos, the chaos that never happened since I managed to stop it in time with help from Jas. Real reason? I managed to find proof that Team Galactic either invented or got their hands on some sort of machine that can drive all wild pokemon crazy just from being near it. The Galactics wanted to test it, so they set their sights on Sunyshore. Dunno why pokemon under command from trainers were unaffected, the police are still working on it. I don't need to explain what will happen if every single wild pokemon go stir crazy if Team Galactic can rile them all up, do I? This enough reason for you?"

Volkner continued his rant as more images began to pop up.

"Number two, the attack on Fullmoon and Newmoon Island. Byron was there, so I won't go into too much detail. Long story short, if it wasn't for Riley and us getting to our region's Lunar Duo in time, they might have already fallen into Team Galactic's hands. Stark Mountain, I happened to also be there again to stop them from digging up more clues about heatran, during my goddamn vacation. Whatever Team Galactic's plan is, they definitely involve our region's legendary and mythical pokemon. I suggest everyone to go and check on your assigned legendary and mythical just in case."

More images flooded their screen.

"Number three. My porygon-z is already working with the League on rooting out their known bases and anything related to them. I already got a long list here and OH MAH GAWD-" Volkner did a very good impression of mock surprise mixed in with an unhealthy dose of sarcasm as he looked through a list on a separate screen. "-every city except for mine has at least a few of their shady hideouts and some of their sponsors are actually big names in our region. The reporters will have a field day with the scandals."

"Then give us the list so we can all take them down together!" Maylene gritted out, fists clenched.

"And then what? This will only encourage them to bunker down and hide further underground, to wait until the storm has passed before coming back once more." Volkner questioned, a bored look on his face. "You guys are exemplary trainers, no doubt about that, but none of you guys save Flint have the brains or skill set suited for crime management. Team Galactic is a stubborn pest. If you want to get the vespiquen behind Team Galactic, you cannot get rid of all the combees. You need to let some of them go so that they can lead you back to its hive. Then we can burn it down for good."

"That's risky." Wake cautioned. "If you let some of them go, and they ended up doing more harm than you can prevent-"

"Or if I follow your suggestions and get all of the riff raff, but the main brain behind this spacesuit organisation gets away scot free and now have more time and information to prepare against us."

Volkner sighed and ran a hand through his messy blonde hair.

"Look, I know a lot of you don't like me. That's fine, the feeling's mutual. However, the reason why the League pushed me into this position despite my protests is because I am the best in Sinnoh when it comes to crime busting. You guys are more than welcomed to help me when I tour your cities beating up those Galactic goons. Or don't, I don't really care. I can take them down myself if I have to. You have opinions? Take them up to Ashley, she gave me full authority to deal with this Galactic problem however I deem fit."

Another image popped up, showing the portrait of a young man.

"This is Riley Slyde, my ex-apprentice and my would-be successor of Sunyshore Gym. If all goes well, he would succeed me in two years' time, give or take a little. I will be out of your hair and you guys out of mine. I can finally have my retirement and you guys would never need to deal with grumpy old me ever again. I tested Riley recently for his eligibility. Byron was there as a witness, ask Byron for details."

"How… How and why did the League suddenly approve of your resignation?" Roark blurted out.

"Why else do you think I am suddenly so proactive in taking down Team Galactic?" Volkner said in the most mocking voice that Candice had ever heard in her life. "Ashley and I came to an agreement. Team Galactic is too big of a problem, so I will root them out or cut it down to size such that they can never do anything that threatens Sinnoh on such a large scale ever again. Time limit? Two years, so that Riley will have enough time to grow into his future position while I deal with the Galactics. By then, the Galactics will either be gone, or would not be a big threat anymore. You guys can pick up the slack from there while I disappear from Sinnoh forever and enjoy my quiet retirement somewhere over the rainbow."

There was a brief pause before Lucian spoke up.

"How do you plan on juggling your usual duties as a Gym Leader while doing this?"

"I'm appointing Riley as my Assistant Gym Leader, it will help him gain some experience before he officially takes up the mantle. Flint will stand in to guide Riley if I'm gone for long periods of time."

"Wait, Volk, you didn't tell me anything about this!"

"Suck it up, Flint. You should have expected it when you pushed me to become a Gym Leader. I'm tired, hungry, angsty, and haven't been sleeping for the past 46 hours due to me conducting my own investigation on the Galactics. I don't have the patience or energy to argue with any of you."

"You could have at least cleared all these with me first before calling for this meeting." Cynthia pointed out.

"And then what?" Volkner scoffed, ignoring Cynthia's scowl. "You and I would argue in circles for one entire week, and then decide to call a meeting like usual, and then grudgingly agree to do things my way in the end because I'm the one best suited for it. I swear, bureaucracy is the bane of efficiency. I'm just shortening the process and making it easier for everyone."

Another image pops up.

"Now, if you have been sleeping on everything thus far, now is a good time to wake up cos this is important. This man-" Volkner emphasised as a portrait of a stoic man with blue hair hovers on the screen. "-goes by the name of Cyrus. Funnily enough, he is also from Sunyshore. I have reasons to suspect that he is the ringleader of this whole Galactic saga. My porygon-z ran a background check on him, but he comes out clean somehow so I don't have concrete proof to charge him with anything. Even then, he had some suspicious interactions with certain shady people that linked him to the recent events that I will not share here. The lesser people know what I know, the higher the chances of me successfully solving this case."

"And why don't you want to let us know?"

"There's been a leak."

Volkner's statement made everyone quiet.

"Volkner." Byron said in a grave voice. "This is a heavy accusation to make."

"You think I don't know that?" Volkner rolled his eyes. "I'm not saying it is one of us, but I am sure that someone, or someones, high up in the food chain is working for the Galactics. It may be in the League, it may be in the Government. Maybe in both, maybe even one of us here. In any case, it explains why their higher-ranking members always managed to escape in the nick of time. The grunts we caught proved to be no help, they don't have much information about their own little boy band."

"So that's why you believe that there is a mole?"

"Among other things. For all we know I could be the mole, right? Anyway, this is just to remind you guys to watch out for the people around you. Any one of them could possibly be a Galactic spy sent to spy on you. Any information you happen to come across regarding the Galactics, send them straight to me personally through a secured line. Don't trust anyone else with what you know about the Galactics."

"Are we at least allowed to know what you are about to do, specifically?"

"Ashley will make a region-wide announcement soon, proclaiming Team Galactic to be a national threat to be dealt with extreme prejudice. The aim is to scare them. They will either grow bolder with their attacks or choose to hide. I say the former is more likely to happen since their actions are already growing bolder. From what we gathered so far, at this juncture, they don't seem to care if their organisation gets known by the public. In any case, we need to stop being so reactive to their actions, we need to start taking the initiative."

"Damn it, nothing is ever easy with you involved." Aaron complained.

"Shut it, bug boy. I didn't ask for this either." Volkner snapped back. "I was supposed to be a lighthouse keeper, not a Gym Leader taking on an entire underground syndicate. Oh yeah, before I forget, I suspect Cyrus' ability as a trainer is on par with those of a Gym Leader or even maybe on the level of an Elite Four. Don't engage him lightly if you ever see him. Always call for backup."

"Are you certain?" Candice found herself talking for the first time since the start of the meeting. To have such a trainer in their midst and not know a thing about it is a daunting thought.

"Certain enough to make this claim. Cynthia, if we ever find him, I am leaving this guy to you. He's too dangerous to be roaming around freely with whatever plans he is cooking up. The only person who I trust to have the power to take him down and come out alive is you. The League's information about him in our trainer database is likely outdated, so take it with a pinch of salt."

"Got it. You don't even need to ask."

"Good, in that case, onto a totally unrelated topic." Volkner yawned, and Candice finally noticed the eyebags around his eyes through the screen.

"You guys paid any attention to what Hoenn had been doing recently? Or more specifically, what the new Gym Leader of Rustboro supposedly contributed to their region before taking up her new position?"

"The trainer's school?"

"Yes, that." Volkner rubbed his tired eyes with a hand. "I suggest that we start looking into such a possibility. Our rookie trainers are surprisingly uneducated on how to be a trainer. Hell, even when my gym is the last in the gym circuit, I still encounter Advanced trainers who still make rookie mistakes like catching a dragon when they obviously don't know enough about how to handle them or how to perform emergency aid for their pokemon when they are down. This kind of nonsense needs to disappear before such idiotic trainers become commonplace and start to harm not only themselves, but everyone around them."

"I second that." Roark spoke up immediately. "Since my gym is the first in the circuit, I often have to correct mistakes that Novice trainers make, but I cannot possibly keep an eye on every single one of them after they left my city and there is no guarantee that my words had sunk into the more stubborn ones. Having a trainer school to teach and rectify even basic things like how to properly approach a wild pokemon will take off a lot from my workload."

"I once had a challenger who tried to impress me by catching a ghost for himself. The ghost nearly ate him alive when he tried to use it against me in the gym challenge and my pokemon had to go and rescue him. All because he doesn't understand ghost types and has no idea what he is getting into." Fantina added with a frown on her face. "Having a trainer school where all aspiring trainers are at least being taught the basics on how to be a trainer will only be good for our region."

"Or mistaking an Antidote for a Paralyse Heal and nearly killing their own pokemon by mistake." Gardenia scoffed. "Seriously, just read the label on the medicine!"

"Or thinking that the best way to get themselves an electivire is to go climb the highest mountain they can find and then proceed to summon so many thunder clouds with repeated usage of Rain Dance, then let their electabuzz absorb the accumulated lightning to help them evolve into an electivire." Volkner yawned. "And then get the entire team killed by lightning for their stupidity when the electabuzz is not yet ready to receive and absorb the large increase in power and then die via lightning overload and kaboom."

There was a collective pause.

"If my memory serves me right, Volk, you did just that." Flint accused.

"My team and I survived. Not like you are any better. You actually went to the depths of Stark Mountain and bathed Burner in magma for seven days and seven nights to evolve him into a magmortar."

"You two are the worst examples ever." Maylene summarised everyone's thoughts in their heads with a single sentence. "Can't you two just get an electirizer or a magmarizer?"

"They are EXPENSIVE." The two males responded in perfect sync before Volkner carried on in his speech. "Besides, unlike those fools, we know how to judge when our pokemon is ready to take in the increase of power necessary for evolution with the riskier method. I was thinking of compiling and then publicising what I know about electric types to be used in our region's trainer schools, if we are going to set it up. This includes how to approach, catch, train, and evolve each of them properly, and the risks involved in doing so. Hopefully that will help."

"You are encouraging trainers to summon thunderstorms with Rain Dance to evolve their electabuzz?"

"Look, there will always be idiots that attempt this kind of shit no matter what we do." Volkner defended his position as he did a lazy wave of his hand. "If that's the case, I'd rather give these idiots the proper knowledge on how to summon a thunderstorm properly, how to properly judge if their electabuzz are ready for evolution using the risky method, and then help the League properly regulate the select few areas in Sinnoh that one can possibly use to summon thunderstorms to evolve their electabuzz. If they want to be stupid and their stupidity cannot be prevented, the least we can do is to limit the dangers that their idiocy will bring to others."

"That… is a sound idea." Bertha nodded along. "Count me in for the trainer school idea. In fact, I think that each of us should publish what we know about our respective specialisation so that future generations can have proper knowledge to refer to instead of relying on questionable sources or word of mouth."

"Like a textbook?" Wake questioned.

"Probably." Bertha shrugged.

"We could even break the textbook up into four different levels." Byron mused. "From Novice all the way to Elite. Maybe this can really bring down the casualty rate of trainers that got themselves killed or injured because they were trying to do something stupid due to their lack of knowledge in the matter."

"From the looks of it, everyone is in on the trainer school and making our own textbook plan?" Flint asked.

There was a chorus of agreement.

"Of course, we must not blindly copy Hoenn's way of doing things." Lucian reminded everyone in that usual polite tone of his. "We can reference what Hoenn has been doing, but we also need to adapt their idea to suit our own needs."

"Someone will need to be the overall in charge of this, like how I am taking charge of the Galactic problem." Volkner insisted. "Too many cooks spoil the broth, as they say. I vote for Candice."

Eh?!

"M-Me?" Candice choked out as she pointed a finger at herself. "I'm the youngest one here! The least experienced! Shouldn't someone with more experience take this job instead?!"

"I gave it a lot of thought. You are the most knowledgeable and one with the sharpest mind among us, that's why I gave you my vote if we are going through with this whole trainer school thing." Volkner said while trying to hide a yawn. "Anyway, there's no real hurry with the trainer school idea. Just think about it and if everyone is agreeable, then let's do this. If you need my vote, I voted for Candice, so don't drag me into this any further cos I already have a lot on my plate as it is."

"I'm on board with this." Cynthia spoke up. "But we should all take a few days to decide on how exactly we are going to do this. This is not a small matter since it concerns how we train future generations of trainers, so think through it thoroughly. We will discuss it in detail in our next meeting."

"And that's the end of things on my part." Volkner yawned again. "Anything else?"

"Go and catch some sleep, Volkner. You look like you are about to drop dead." Bertha stated in that raspy voice of hers.

"Damn straight, I am about to drop dead." Volkner grumbled. "That's all from me, folks. You guys continue talking. Volkner out."

With a click, Volkner exited the video call, leaving the twelve of them still online.

"It's late, so I will keep things short. Do remember what Volkner just shared with us about Team Galactic, and do take the time to check on your assigned legendaries and mythicals just in case. I myself will work with Volkner and conduct my own investigation on Team Galactic and Cyrus. The rest of you just be prepared to be called upon to help at any time. Is this fine by everyone?"

Upon seeing the nods after Cynthia had spoken, the meeting was closed.

Candice let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when she exited the meeting. The topics discussed were heavier than she thought. Taking on the entirety of Team Galactic by himself? Volkner has to be certified insane to do that. The League are barely scraping the surface on how big Team Galactic truly is. How such a big terrorist organisation slipped past their radar is a mystery, but there's no denying that Team Galactic could potentially grow into Sinnoh's largest threat in its history.

Still, Volkner is doing something about it despite how un-Gym-Leader-like he is. He's also right, he's the best candidate for the job since he has the most experience out of everyone in busting crimes.

It still baffled her that he actually nominated her to spearhead a project as important as setting up a trainer school for their region from scratch. The youngest, least experienced Gym Leader. That's her. He trusts her to be capable enough to build the foundation of what will influence future generations of trainers. If all goes according to plan, she will have a large say on what will be taught to future trainers before they start on their journey.

The thought of it scares her. What did she do to merit such trust from him?

A gentle nudge from her glaceon brought her out of her thoughts.

Candice sighed as she decided to just go to sleep and worry about all these the next day. It's late. She will worry about everything else the next day when her mind is able to function better.

Hopefully, she will be up to the task as a member of Sinnoh's Thirteen Pillars.


Pokemon and trainer list:

Volkner Tide: Gym Leader of Sunyshore, Electric Specialist

Titles, Accolades and Achievements: Tie for First Place with Flint in the 521st Lily of the Valley Conference, Sinnoh's strongest Electric Specialist, Thirteen Pillar of Sinnoh, The Sun of Sunyshore, The Yellow Flash

Main team:

Electivire (Franky), male Luxray (Simba), male Jolteon (Jo), female Magnezone (ISpy), genderless Gallade (Myst), male Rhyperior (Tec), male Probopass (North), female Gyarados (Puddle), male

Pokemon used for Gym challenges

9. Raichu (Squeaky), female

10. Pachirisu (Scrat), male

11. Heliolisk (Bask), male

12. Ampharos (Fluffy), female

13. Vikavolt (Vik), female

14. Eelektross (Whirr), male

15. Lanturn (Glowy), female

Pokemon used for Sunyshore's security

16. Rotom (Prime), genderless

17. Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless