"You're kidding me," Aurian shook her head. "This has to be a trick."

"Not a trick, dear one, but a Chronicle. You found one of four ever created, built by the Guardian Guild precisely for this method of communication. The rune circle under your feet was etched millennia ago, aided by Red Chain and scales from Dialga and Palkia. The result is a method of both looking back and forward- your forefathers rest here in the great beyond," Uriel said.

Ash laughed. "Ri, we just hit a gold mine. Uriel, how's the chocolate in the afterlife?"

"Incredible barely begins to describe it. While I would love the opportunity to wax poetic about chocolate, I sense that is not why you are here. Ash, is that your sister?"

"Yes, it's an honor to meet you, Uriel. I've heard nothing but great things about you," Aurian bowed at the waist. "We're joined by our partners, Cass and Raziel."

The two Lucario copied Aurian's action.

"Rise, please! No need to bow, we are all equals here. Welcome to the Lily Temple… well, what remains of it. Tell me, how did you find the ruins?"

Aurian pulled out the locket and flipped it over, revealing the coordinates.

Uriel nodded. "Aaron's handwriting, which means that you received his time flower. Tell me, what troubles the future?"

"We have twelve hours to prepare for an all-out attack against a resurrected Rebel League," Ash said, heart shattering at the fury that flashed in Uriel's eyes. "Father sent us here to find something."

"In normal circumstances, we'd scavenger hunt it up, but this is sacred ground and we don't want another round of Praesidio Custos coming for our heads," Aurian shrugged.

Uriel crossed his arms. "Your restraint is admirable. Goodness, I haven't been to the Lily Temple in ages... check around the altar, perhaps in the sacrament cabinets on the back wall? I will be the first to admit that I never truly paid attention to what was within that Sanctum; I was just glad to be there."

Aurian motioned for Cass and Raziel to follow her to the altar. The trio took off towards the other side of the Sanctum, murmuring while they searched for anything of use.

"In the meantime, I have a request. Uriel, tell us everything you know about John Cabot," Ash said.

"I beg your pardon?"

Ash gulped. "He's here, in our time. We need anything you can give us to help defeat him."

"I am not the best person for this conversation," Uriel protested, "but I know a few Guardians who could offer far more useful information on this subject. One moment, please-"

Muffled yelling echoed through the Chronicle, several bodies fighting to come into view as the noise grew louder.

"What did you do?" Aurian turned over her shoulder.

Cass rolled her eyes. "What didn't he do?"

"I just asked what he knew about Cabot!" Ash sighed, hands up. "I didn't expect to start an afterlife war!"

"That name brings back centuries of bad intentions, son," a grizzled older man with a shock of grey hair and numerous scars came into view, "none of which worked out in our favor."

Ash sized up the new arrival. "Nice to meet you, sir-"

"Azaiah Borealis. Your grandfather."

Across the Sanctum, Aurian dropped something heavy. "Hi, Grandfather Azaiah!"

"It's nice to meet you, I wish this was under better circumstances. Tell me everything you know about Cabot," Ash said.

Azaiah frowned. "Vindictive little son of a-"

"Oy!" a disembodied hand shoved Azaiah out of the frame. "Watch it, Aza!"

Raziel raised an eyebrow. "I never knew your family was so… dysfunctional."

"This is what happens when you shove twenty-five generations of Guardians in the same place," Aaron popped into view. "The Borealis family is blessed with a multitude of strong personalities. My father will be of the most help. I'll keep everyone else in line."

"Now, where were we?" Azaiah crossed his arms. "Yes, the damned son of Morgan. Tell me, young ones, how much do you know of the Cabot bloodline?"

Ash sighed. "Not a lot. All we know is that the Cabot family's been cursed since the day they were kicked out of the Guild. They schemed for centuries to eliminate the Guardians. Somehow, John Cabot wound up leading the charge with the Rebel League and they almost carried out their goal."

"How'd we do?" Aurian called.

"What you know is accurate," Azaiah chuckled. "The Cabot family is driven by nothing but pride and hedonistic tendencies. Their aura was once the purest outside of the Borealis line. Now it is corrupt, twisted by centuries of malice and contempt."

"How do we defeat Cabot? He has access to a weapon that no one knows how to stop," Ash shook his head.

"You use what he thinks is his greatest strength- his pride," a new figure poked her head in, black hair tied in a neat bun. "Even in our time, he believed he was near indestructible. All these years later, his ego is still his bane. Use it wisely."

Azaiah nodded. "Annabeth is right. And even though we are unable to help in person, you still carry us with you wherever you go. Our family bond is strong; death cannot separate us. The sigil you drew on the ground will allow us to reach out however we can. Though it may feel like you are alone in this struggle, that could not be further from the truth."

Aurian let out a yell of triumph, dashing back to her brother with tears in her eyes.

The younger patonai held out two pairs of blue gloves, golden embroidery spiraling around the palms and fingers to orbit around a hemisphere of Rota crystal embedded over the back of each hand.

"Thank you," Ash dried his eyes. "This is more than we could ever ask for."

Aurian leaned into her brother's shoulder. "I never imagined I'd ever have a family like this. I wish I knew all of you better."

Annabeth poked a ghostly head back into view. "This Chronicle exists for you both. Any time you need us, call."

"Go forth and defend what you believe in," Azaiah smiled. "Your legacy is on your side, may the winds of fate aid your steps."

Ash, Aurian, Raziel, and Cass waved as the Chronicle flickered, then extinguished.

"This is better than anything I ever expected," Ash took a pair of gloves and slid them on, aura crackling between his fingertips.

Aurian did the same, eyes lighting up when the crystal glowed blue. "I never dreamed I'd get to use these."

A fireball formed between her hands, the pulse of life within stronger than anything she'd ever summoned.

"Let's settle this," Ash said, "once and for all."

The patonai and their Lucario appeared in Riley's office in a flash of light.

"Arceus Almighty, you scared the daylights out of me," Riley put a hand to his chest. "Was your detour successful?"

Aurian slid a drawing of the Chronicle's rune circle across his desk, their commander's expression changing from slightly perturbed to shocked.

"This is…"

Ash nodded. "The locket led us straight to a Chronicle."

"And," Aurian pulled the old gloves from her pocket, "these were a nice bonus."

"Excellent! I'm sure you took some time to familiarize yourself with how the gloves work," Riley leaned in.

"You may want to grab Aaron's gloves from Mew's stockpile in the Tree of Beginning," Ash said, arms crossed. "There's a good chance you may need them."

"Just texted Wes, he'll take care of it. What else did you learn?"

"If you ever want to anger twenty generations of Guardians beyond belief, ask about the Cabot family," Aurian sighed. "According to our grandfather Azaiah, Cabot's downfall is his pride. As long as we figure out a way to play into that, we should be able to make it out of this relatively unscathed."

"Duly noted," Riley muttered. "Wes, Michael, and I came up with a way to expose all of Tobias' Pokemon for the Shadows they are. It'll be tricky to coordinate, but we're confident that we can pull it off when we infiltrate."

Ash grinned. "I'm in. Tell us everything."

"I will, during our Armada strategy meeting. Lance and the Counsel are meeting with each squadron independently to brief us on our specific courses of action. Now that you're back, we can get started."

The trio of Guardians settled into Conference Eleven, flanked by the Armada, Brock, and Misty.

"Good afternoon, let's get this started. Riley, how close are we?" Lance cracked his knuckles.

Riley squinted at a laptop. "Give me another minute and we'll be ready."

"Before we get too far into this," Aurian pulled Delia's bag of cookies from her pocket. "They're a little smushed, but Delia wanted us to give these to you. Enjoy!"

Lance grinned, chocolate chips smudging on his fingers. "Excellent. While our schematics load, I'll begin by telling you that this mission is far from easy. The Rebel League's fortifications on the old Rocket base are unlike anything we've seen before."

"Their base is split into three control towers," Drayden pointed to Riley's diagrams. "In order to capture Charon Van Meter and defeat MissingNO, we need to take all three towers. The Armada's secondary objective is to snag the Shadow Darkrai… and as many of Tobias and Faith's team members as possible."

Flint crossed his arms. "We expect the Captains, Wes, and Michael to lead this charge-"

A green "Call Waiting" icon appeared at the bottom of the screen, an unfamiliar number occupying the address line.

Steven cursed wildly. "That's the number that the RL used yesterday."

"The hell do they want now?" Lance groaned. "Armada, clear out. Borealis, Borealis, and Hawthorne, stay with me."

Riley pulled his hood up, motioning for the patonai to do the same. "I'll wager we're about to find out."

"Wait, is the door in view of the camera?" Ash asked.

Steven tilted the laptop. "Not anymore. Prop the door so the rest of the Armada can listen in."

Aurian flung the door open, the sudden motion causing half the squadron to jump. "We need your ears. If you make any noise, you're Dragonite chow."

"Steven, accept the call," Lance ordered.

"Hold on," Ash protested, "aren't you going to talk from off-screen or something? Are we willing to risk your identity?"

Riley snorted. "Ash, do you recall your Commander General yelling 'long live the G-Men' at the Gala before everything exploded? That ship's long sailed."

"When you put it that way…" Ash trailed off, acutely aware of his patonai trying valiantly not to laugh.

A single silhouette appeared on screen, face obscured by shadow.

"G-Men… the Armada, I presume."

Both patonai winced.

"Giovanni," Lance's voice turned to steel.

"Since the formalities are long gone, I figured I would offer an ultimatum," the man came into full view as a lamp switched on overhead. "I suspect that a nasty brawl will happen within the next twelve hours, yes? I'll give you Goodshow, with full permission to prosecute him for funding us out of the League Treasury, in exchange for a visit with your two younger Guardians."

All eyes fell on Lance.

"How would I make sure that their single visit wouldn't turn into a life-long imprisonment?" he asked.

Giovanni tutted. "You don't trust me?"

"With all due respect," Ash said, "no. You and your affiliates don't have the best track records with keeping captive wielders alive."

"So be it," Giovanni steepled his fingers. "The offer still stands. The young ones are quite fascinating. For all I knew, aura was almost gone from the world. Then two more wielders turn up, allied with the G-Men… what a shame."

"No way in hell," Lance put a hand on a near-hyperventilating Aurian's shoulder. "Is that all?"

Giovanni frowned. "Disappointing. That is all."

The call ended, both Riley and Lance swearing profusely once the screen went black. Armada members filed back into Conference Eleven, silent.

"You handled that real well," Mack clapped Lance on the shoulder. "Well done, Commander."

Lance sighed. "That makes one of us who thinks that."

"Breathe, friend," Riley said. "Your heart won't be able to handle much more stress."

"I'm not capable of more," Lance rubbed his temples. "Michael, run a message to Brendan and Lucas. Tell them that Research is to cut off all Rebel League communications running outside the base starting at ten tonight. That was a bold move on Giovanni's part; it's our turn to counter it."

"The faster we can deploy, the better, and the sooner we shut down MissingNO and the rest of the Rebel League," Riley finished.

The silence left in Michael's wake was deafening.

"Hey," Ash pulled his sister's hood down, "talk to me. What's going on?"

Aurian shook her head, face pale. "Lance, you pre-emptively saved our lives. What does Giovanni want with us?"

"Do you think he knows?" Ash asked, voice quiet.

Hiori raised an eyebrow. "...knows what?"

"Fill us in, Captains," Sam said.

The patonai found Lance, who nodded.

"Armada, this is Level Nine classified information," Riley gazed at his subordinates. "What you're about to hear does not leave this room under penalty of forced amnesia."

Eusine put a hand up. "Riley, I thought the scale only went to Level Eight."

"Trust us, this is a nine," Aurian deadpanned.

The assembled Armada crossed their hearts in unison.

"Okay, here's what we know," Ash started.

Ash and Aurian's squadron nearly shouted through the entirety of their story, the patonai struggling to make themselves heard.

"Considering what we uncovered last night, it has to be us," Aurian finished. "We have to beat MissingNO and Giovanni, for our father's sake."

"Plot twist of the century," Sam shook his head.

"I knew you were ridiculously powerful for Guardians your age but this explains why," Hiori carefully eyed the patonai. "What have we gotten ourselves into?"

"An all-out war for the future of the League," Lance cleared his throat. "If we can't resolve this now, the peace we know is gone. Rocket's primary end goal is to kill our three wielders to finish what Cabot started a millennia and a half ago. They're willing to destroy anything to do it - especially us."

Ash stood, eyes flaring brighter than normal. Misty watched in horror as her friend's aura burned away the crimson contacts, leaving a stark blue iris.

"Lance, this is why I- no, we- can't let you pit the entire Armada against MissingNO. Ri and I are best equipped to diffuse this. Let us go, put the rest of the squadron where they'll be most effective."

Aurian nodded. "This isn't their fight. We might not make it out of this in one piece-"

Uproar followed, all Armada members yelling in protest.

"Hold on!" Lance cried to no avail.

Riley shot fireworks from his hands, the resulting explosions quieting the room.

"All of your concerns are valid," Riley started. "Our plan is farfetch'd, but I believe it will work. Listen up…"

The Armada left Conference Eleven an hour and a half later, fully briefed on the Counsel's wild scheme.

Misty tugged on her sleeves, power-walking towards a quiet alcove that Aurian pointed out the day before. While everything presented in the tactics meeting made perfect sense- Lance and Riley were a match made in G-Men heaven- she needed time to think and process all that the next twenty-four hours could be.

Another set of footsteps mirrored hers. Misty turned to find Ash, worry etched in his eyes.

Those damn blue eyes.

"Mist, the rooms are the other way," Ash pointed in the opposite direction.

Misty shook her head. "I know that, thanks."

"What's going on?"

"I need some alone time, okay?" she ducked out of his way.

"Misty, wait!" Ash chased after his friend. "This is weighing on you, hard. You can trust me."

"Can I?" she fired back, eyes watering. "Most days I don't even know who you are anymore!"

Ash caught her wrist, freezing Misty in her tracks.

"Do you think this has been easy for me?" Ash's voice cracked on the last word. "Misty, everything I thought I knew about my family and my past was turned upside down last night. At this point, I'm not too sure who I am, either."

"The Ash I grew up with never would have gotten angry like you did back there."

Ash bit back a laugh. "I flew off the handle five times a week in the old days, we both know that."

"Memories," Misty snorted. "That kind of anger was immature, this kind of anger… well… it's dangerous. You're dangerous now, and that scares me."

"Hey, look at me," Ash took her hand. "I'm not the fool I was when I was fifteen. So many things have changed- I'm taller, a Guardian, somehow a G-Men Captain-"

"Somehow?"

"What I've been through would change anyone. I swear on my Guardian's honor that parts of the Ash you knew are still here. Can you see it?"

Misty nodded. "You're still stubborn as a Rapidash."

"And twice as awesome."

"Don't make me Hydro Pump your ego," Misty groaned. "But yes. You're still incredibly loyal to your team and the Armada. You're every bit the protective older brother to Aurian that you were for Max, you still spoil Pikachu beyond belief."

"Chupi pikaka pikapi, chu," Pikachu huffed.

"I'm not the one sneaking you extra berries at every meal! But yeah, at the end of the day you're still Ash, even if you're not quite the Ash I expected to find or knew."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "You're stalling. Tell me what you really want to say."

Misty took a deep breath in, deep breath out.

"You're so… cavalier with a mission this huge. I'm worried you won't come back alive from this and about what will happen if Rocket figures out who you are," she blurted, face crimson.

"I've gotten out of worse scrapes," Ash pulled her in. "As long as Aurian and I tackle this together, we'll make it out. As for the Rebel League figuring things out… that's unavoidable after the Gala. Lance did a great job of covering our paper trail, so our actual identities should be safe unless they see our scars. You're really that worried about me?"

"I've done an awful job of hiding it," Misty shrugged.

Ash sighed. "And I've done nothing to deserve it. I was a bad friend for not telling you what happened after the Sinnoh League."

"Four years of cold shoulder," Misty said. "It was a nightmare, especially when the League went after you and Rocket burned the gym down. Lance pulled me into G-Men witness protection. I thought I knew fear until I got here. I don't know how you survived four years of this."

"It's an even split between Aurian's brainpower and sheer luck," Ash cleared his throat. "When I got here, Lance gave Aurian and I one phone call each. I wanted so, so badly to call you and tell you that I was safe. They destroyed my old PokeGear before I could even try. There was a lot of begging- and ugly crying- involved."

Misty crossed her arms. "Please don't vanish again. I… I don't want to think about all the ways the next twenty-four hours could go wrong."

Ash didn't get a chance to respond before Misty burst into tears.

"I'll come back alive- for good this time," he wiped her tears away. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

Misty managed a tiny smile. "You'd better."

"Would it make you feel better if I promised?"

She nodded.

"Misty Rose Waterflower, I promise that I will do whatever it takes to survive this mission. I want to… no. I will come back for you, Distortion World or high water, so I can finally take you on a proper date when all this is ov-"

He trailed off at the look on her face.

"...um, that is, if you'll let me," Ash flushed bright red.

Misty grinned. "The Crimson Menace, intimidated by asking a girl out?"

"Is that a yes?"

She leaned in and kissed him, hands intertwined, the moment suspended in time.

"I think that's a yes," Ash gave Misty a huge hug, sweeping her off her feet.

"If I'm going to break a rib today, I'd much prefer that it happen while we're in enemy territory! Geez, you're strong!" Misty protested with a laugh.

Ash kissed her forehead. "Come on, we've got a mission to finish and equipment check starts in two hours."

From an overlook the next level up, Aurian smiled as the duo walked further into headquarters, hand in hand. Everyone but Ash and Misty knew how this one was going to end, even if they couldn't see it themselves.

"Eavesdropping on your brother?" Riley asked, scaring Aurian out of her skin.

She turned around, hand on her heart. "Arceus, Riley! Besides, he's probably going to tell me about it tonight. And those two are loud when they're emotional."

"I don't think that will change any time soon," Riley chuckled. "I wanted to check on you after that call with Giovanni- how are you doing?"

"If you told me a month ago that I'd stare down the man responsible for the death of her father while standing next to her older brother, she would have laughed. Hysterically. Now?"

"Now."

Aurian sighed. "Now… all I can think about is how much we've changed. For the better, absolutely, but it feels like we've aged three years in the last month."

"You're not the same patonai that you were when you left, nor the same people you were when you showed up on our doorstep four years ago. You may see it as change, but all I see is that you're becoming who you were always meant to be," Riley paused.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who didn't see potential when you both openly defied tradition and asked for a membership trial. Even more so when you didn't ask us to go easy on you because of your age."

"Don't leave yourself out of this," Aurian said. "You've changed, too. You haven't threatened to fire us due to assorted shenanigans for six months! That has to be a new record."

Riley snorted. "Don't tempt fate."

"Also a lot less uptight than you were, right?"

"You two did force me to learn how to relax. Thank you for that," he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Unfortunately, I suppose Lance picked up some of my 'uptight' nature, as you call it."

Aurian stuck her tongue out. "We love you too."

"If you truly love me, you won't be late to equipment check," Riley motioned back down the hallway.

Aurian squared her shoulders. "Right. Time to take down the guy who killed our dad and all of his minions, defeat an artificial Pokemon, and put the world back as it should be. No pressure."

(A/N): Hello, y'all! Thank you for reading C28 of Primary Intentions- it's the beginning of the end! We're about to go toe to toe with the Rebel League and I'm so excited to finish this journey with you. Special thanks, as always, to thechinskyguy for his sage advice and wonderful feedback. Give his stories a read, you won't regret it!

Now that work is slowing down, I'm hoping to update a bit more frequently. I can't make any promises until June, but I'll do all I can to update every other week. In the meantime, please leave a review or a message! Tell your friends, your family, your mortal (fr)enemies about PI! I've really enjoyed coming home to this project over the last year and it's been an honor to have y'all along for the ride.

Until next time! PL, signing off.