Ron the True Fan: Am I happy? Not really. Mixed feelings: after all, no fic or fic series I've ever written's ever garnered this much attention. Then again, everyone's also pestering me with messages to update. Despite Jorn's request that you pester HIM, instead. Price I pay for having his fic on my profile.

Takeshi Yamato: …Well, I'm glad it's not me you're pestering.

Insurgency bunker near Neos, capital of the People's Republic of Ferrum, 0923 hours local time, Day 143 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey

"All dirt and no grass make Kyoji crazy." the Ranseian spec ops lieutenant droned. "All dirt and no grass make Kyoji crazy."

"Would you SHUT UP?" Mei demanded, sitting on the floor in a vain attempt to meditate. "We have been here for three weeks. We all wish to get out here and smite the fools running this region. Be SILENT in your madness."

Her Natu, perched on a chair, stared into his eyes. "Natu." 'He's not insane. He's bored.' she said. "Natu." 'He's not the only one. Look at the land sharks.'

The two Ransian Gibles were buried in the dirt up to their fins, a sign of boredom-induced torpor. Sabrina's yellow shark then surfaced, yawning and showing off his teeth.

Kyoji got to his feet, rubbing the back of his neck. "Humans were not meant to sit in the dark underground for over a month." he groused.

"They used to be, until about 20000 years ago." Hitomi said. "Dawn of civilization and all that."

Travis looked outside, seeing a Starly land inside the entrance to the bunker, carrying a roll of paper. "Looks like we have our first target." the dark-skinned Ferran said as he took it and looked at it. "The 'People's Army' is getting a shipment of something from Orre. It's important enough to warrant a military escort. It'll be crossing the border in about four hours."

Kyoji perked up at this. "And where is this happening?" he asked, almost happy to have something to do.

"At the border. Only road leading to and from that desert shithole." Keith said. "It'll be well-guarded and they kinda removed any and all cover for miles."

No bushes to hide in, no hills to take cover behind. Paranoid bastards.

"If it is a weapon, we will need to seize it." Mei stated. "Our mission here has suffered enough problems."

Kyoji's Gible unearthed, yawning before going back in and swimming in the ground, slowly but surely making a small crater before he jumped out of the ground and chomped on Hitomi's head.

"Gi!" 'Hi!' warbled the land shark, the psychic giggling as Kyoji looked at the raised hole in the floor, thinking.

Misty, her past self, that is, through her flesh and blood counterpart, complained during Ash's failed attempt to get her and him together, about pitfalls during her time with Ash in Kanto and Johto,Team Rocket always digging them and doing their motto before trying and failing to catch Pikachu.

"Gible." Kyoji said as he looked at the land shark with snake-like scales. "You're a genius."

Gible opened one eye to look at Kyoji. "Gible." 'Of course I'm a genius.' he said… before making a questioning warble. "Gib?" 'About what?'

Kyoji chuckled. "Where's that convoy going?" he asked.

"The only road leading from Orre." Keith said slowly, as if to someone needing to understand.

"I got a plan." Kyoji said, looking at Gible. "And it's all thanks to Gible."

Gible eyesmiled, happy… if clueless.

Route 108, Ferrum, 1239 hours

The transport had a few people riding on it, the People's Liberation Army not trusting Pokemon to do anything meaningful in the defense of the glorious region. Pokemon were living things and far more independent then humans of the PLA, who obeyed without question...under duress.

No one liked the Commissars.

Vun-vun.

One of the soldiers stopped, looking around. What was that sound?

…Wait a minute… That wasn't supposed to play on land.

THe truck then fell as the road collapsed, landing it on a 45 degree angle engine-first, burying it.

"Find out what caused this!" the commissar demanded, infuriated. "And call in a lifter to-"

He never finished as lightning hit him in the face, the soldier that noticed the sound getting slammed into the ground by telekinetic force.

One man screamed and fired his weapon, only for a… spoon… to get jammed into his head.

Needless to say, the ambush was a total success as all of them were very, very quickly neutralized. Mostly by a very, very annoyed parrot.

"Natu." 'Mass. Teleporting. SUCKS.' Natu squawked as he nested on Gible's fin, the land shark being almost entirely inside the ground as he napped, his fin poking out. Natu had teleported every single PLA soldier to an undisclosed location. Kyoji didn't ask what happened to them, but he swore he heard a peculiar scream.

Kyoji rubbed the little green bird's head… at least he thought it was Natu's head: being a round ball of feathers made it hard to figure out where he was rubbing. "Get some rest, little guy." he said as he got to his feet. "Ok, let's find out what the hell those guys were getting and what was so important that they couldn't wait to fly it over."

Sabrina looked to the skies. "I don't think they could have." she quipped, Kyoji looking up to see a few slow-moving clouds… and a pair that were moving a lot faster and…

"Those aren't clouds." the specops soldier said, recognizing the 'clouds' as the wings of the only Flying/Dragon-type he knew of, every other one being Dragon/Flying: Altaria.

Altaria were not that common, even in this part of the world: Ferrum, prior to their stupidity, revered Altaria as lesser versions of Ho-Oh, calling them 'fenghuang'. Of course, only Salen preserved their past now: for the PRoF, the revolution was all.

The cloud-bird then slowly circled, making its' way down, Kyoji seeing a pair of very female legs on the sides of the Altaria. Someone was riding it.

And as the bird landed, it was a familiar someone. She had clearly changed her outfit, dyed her hair to a darker shade of pink and put in contact lenses, but...it was Lovrina.

"Hi!" she said, clearly nervous. "Uh...I saw what happened. I'm Lacus, I just got out of Orre. There's...a bit of a thing going on there."

Mei gave her a level look. "Define 'a thing'." she demanded, unslinging her weapon.

'Lacus' chuckled nervously. "Uh...Ash Ketchum just nuked Pyrite Town?" she said, concerned for her life.

Sabrina looked at her. "Excuse me?" she demanded. "My father wouldn't nuke a city!"

"Well, he did...with my help." the pinkette said, now thoroughly scared for her life. "I set the bomb, but we both agreed everyone in Pyrite was beyond saving. It's their recruitment center. Irony and all that: both times, Pyrite Town was the source of all Cipher's woes and all that…"

"Gible." 'That explains that smell in the air. Sweet, tangy, energetic.' Gible warbled. "Gib-Gi." 'Plutonium-249. Yum!'

Kyoji knew gibles loved metal, but...radioactive metal, too? Explained how that reactor in Eastern Kalos stopped being an issue, even long after the town was abandoned.

Those land sharks must've been hyper as hell later, though…

Back to the point at hand. Saving 'Lacus' from Mei, who was releasing the safety on her gun.

"Nice work." he said, giving her a look to play along. "The intel you gave us a while back is why we're here."

The spymistress got it. "Oh, the whole 'Ferrum's gearing up for something' thing." she replied. "Yeah, this is just another shipment. Got no idea what's in it."

They'd have to get their story straight later.

Right now, they had a truck to look into.

Hitomi deployed her emitters to lift the truck out and set it down on the side of the road, Sabrina helping to stabilize it before unceremoniously dropping it onto the ground. "Let's see what's inside." the Ranseian psychic said. "I'll just-"

The doors on the back were then ripped off and tossed aside, Kyoji jumping to avoid one while the other got a new friend in the form of Gible, who started nomming on it. Sabrina's Gible left his ball, digging how way to it.

"Aw…" Hitomi pouted. "I wanted to spoon it."

Sabrina gave her a look, followed by Travis, Mei, Nessha and pretty much everyone there. "Remind me to tell you what that means later." the Kanto gym leader said before climbing into the back of the vehicle.

And stopping as soon as her eyes adjusted to the dark. "What the hell." she deadpanned before picking up what looked like a Luxury Ball, minus the fancy embroidery and fake jewels. "They're Poke Balls. Hundreds of them!"

Kyoji and Lacus ran over, followed more leisurely by the others, Natu landing on Kyoji's head before the parrot started glaring. "Naaaaaaaaaaaatttttttttttttuuuuuuuu." 'Those things have Shadow Pokemon in them. Put them out of their misery.' the parrot said. "Natu." 'It would be merciful.'

Kyoji looked up at him. "Are you sure?" he asked. Natu's response was to peck him.

"Natu!" 'What do YOU think?!' the parrot demanded. "NA!" 'I can FEEL their thoughts, demanding blood and death! KILL THEM!'

Travis looked at the pair in confusion. "What's with Natu?" he asked. "Something wrong?"

Kyoji sighed, looking at their Ferran allies. "I can understand Pokemon." he said, before glancing at the balls. "And Natu's saying those things are filled with Shadow Pokemon."

Hitomi picked up one of the balls. "Then we need to deal with them." she said coolly. "The only thing that a Shadow Pokemon is good for is death."

"Hold it." Kyoji said sternly. "We can't kill them. One, they didn't ask for Cipher to turn them into monsters. Two, what if there's a way to undo the damage? Ash's Pikachu is a Shadow Pokemon and he's not constantly trying to murder his trainer."

That got Mei's attention. "'And his brother-in-arms walks in shadow, corrupted by darkness but refusing to bow.'" she recited. "Prophecies of Damos. He said that the Chosen would have one that walked in shadow."

Kyoji grinned. "And what's darker then a Shadow Pokemon?" he quipped. "Pikachu is proof they can't be all monsters who can only control themselves with murder. We can't kill them."

"And there's a way to save them anyways." Lacus chipped in, looking guilty. Not surprising: Kyoji knew a lot of those Pokemon, if not ALL of them, were corrupted by her. "Cipher… still has the purify chamber specifications."

Sabrina looked at her in shock. "What?" she demanded. "Why? Why would they keep something that could undo all their work in one shot in their archives? That makes no sense!"

Mei turned her gaze to Lacus. "They dare presume to believe they can touch the Creator?" she said, royally pissed as she glared at the pinkette. "They think they can corrupt the Mother of All?"

Keith and Travis looked at Mei, then at Lacus. "Whoa, what?" Keith asked. "Are you saying they might try to corrupt Arceus herself?!"

All the girl did was nod.

Mei racked the bolt of her gun back. "I am going to Orre," she declared. "Suffer not the heretic-"

Kyoji stepped in front of her, arms spread wide. "You are NOT going to Orre," he said. "First off, you'd just get Cipher marching over here and we'll have TWO armies on our asses. And Cipher Peons are obedient unto death."

Mei was not swayed and took another step.

"Two, Ash is already dealing with them! That nuke was just the first step!" Kyoji continued. "Cipher is on the march to its end, all we need to do is keep the Ferran army occupied and AWAY FROM ASH."

'And three. Keep YOU the hell away from HIM.' he thought to himself. Ash had enough issues with girls, some justified, a lot not, but introducing a religious nut that would worship the ground he walked on and sleep with him to 'sire a holy child' was… no. Not gonna happen.

Mei made a motion to point her gun at his gut, safety off and finger on the trigger. "'A trial of spirit for the Unborn Son awaits in the land of heat.'" Hitomi quoted. "'For his spirit must remain true and noble.'"

Mei looked at the psychic… and sighed. "The Chosen of Arceus must do this himself." she reluctantly admitted before turning to the truck. "What do we do with Yveltal's unwilling spawn?"

Kyoji thought quickly. Poke Balls were all based on one super-powerful prototype, now long lost, which could keep Pokemon alive for centuries in stasis.

And even if they weren't as powerful…

"Bury the Poke Balls." he said at last. "Bury them and mark them on a map. After we get the Purify Chamber specs, we can just free them from this living hell. And if it takes a long time, eventually, they'll die anyway!"

"We could just let them have them." Travis said, smirking. "The Shadow Rebellion almost ended Cipher. A few of these going berserk'll end the 'People's Republic' once and for all."

"And end the rest of civilization in the process." Sabrina deadpanned.

"Or the end of all life on Earth: that nutcase President of yours thinks you're better off without Pokemon when we NEED each other." Kyoji interjected. "We make it possible for them to evolve and grow in unpredictable ways while they keep us from doing stupid shit. When we're out of sync, we're… not at our best."

Mewtwo thought the same. The Legendaries handed him his ass and forced him to look into Ash's head so he could see the unknowable and unseeable for good measure just to make sure he got the point. Xuefeng was going to need something like that to get his head out of his communist party-issue ass.

Maybe Kyogre using Origin Pulse would do it.

"Take them to the hideout, ditch the truck and bury the Pokeballs." Travis said, before looking at Lacus. "Keep an eye on her. She sounds Orrean."

Kyoji nodded. "I'll keep an eye on her." he said, before guiding her away from the group.

The pinkette looked at Kyoji, keeping her voice low. "What are you doing here?!" she hissed. "I thought you were in Kanto!"

"I was recalled," he said lowly. "What happened?"

She chuckled mirthlessly. "I thought long and hard about what you said and… well… Cipher's insane." she admitted. "I saw a Chansey die just to keep Miror B young. I… couldn't handle it anymore."

Koyji thought about it, then sighed. "You're an informant for Imperial Intelligence. You're part of the reason we came here. You have intel on Cipher's activities." he said.

Lacus huffed. "At least that much is right." she said before they rejoined the group...not knowing they were being watched.

Neos, government building - 1250 hours local time

Sun Xuefeng watched as the resistance took his weapons from the vehicle. "A trap nicely laid." he said, complimenting Zhong Zhen, before narrowing his eyes. "Find them."

"We know they have to return to the city. The UAV can't track them once they get into the woods." the Marshall said. "That abomination of a Gible is scrambling the thermal imaging."

"You're sure they'll go back to the city?" the president demanded.

"They don't have a choice. Whatever hideaway they're using doesn't have enough supplies to allow them to survive for much longer." the general surmised. "They need to resupply eventually. And when they do…How do you want them executed? Pulled apart or just beheaded?"

Sun glared at the marshal. "Just. Kill them." he growled out. "I want this rebellion crushed. Civilians are expendable in this operation. Level the city if you need to."

The marshal bowed, then left the room.

This rebellion needed to die. Then Selan would be brought into the revolution, to purge Ransei's Empire. Then Orre, purging those godfearing idiots.

Then the former United Region of Nihon, Royal Realm of Kalos, United States of Unova, United Kingdoms of Northern and Southern Galar and the Alolan Islands would bow to the will of the People's Republic of Ferrum.

Neos apartment building/resistance hideout - 206 Hours local time

Hiding the balls took longer then the group wanted. But making sure the PLA didn't find them was a top priority. And with their unwillingness to use Pokemon, it would take a VERY long time to find those balls.

Kyoji just hoped Lacus was telling the truth about the Purify chamber. This Shadow Pokemon bullshit had lasted six decades. It was high time it ended.

His musing was cut off by a question. "Who's Ash Ketchum?" The Ransei snapped his head to Travis, honestly curious.

"We mentioned him a couple times." Kyoji said slowly.

"Yeah, but now this guy's in Orre stirring shit up." the resistance member said. "I want to know who this guy is. Other then supposedly the Chosen of Arceus."

Sabrina chuckled. "What's to know?" she said. "Other then stopping a rogue legendary, turning Team Rocket into a vestagal organization, stopping Cipher's attack on Indigo Stadium and being heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Rota?"

Keith looked at Sabrina in mild surprise. "The Rotan throne? I thought the entire family was wiped out." he piped up, confused. "Killed in that idiotic expedition during the war."

"Well, apparently, the prince survived, had a kid and he had four more, including Ash." Kyoji interjected, leaving out all the time travel shenanigans and the fact he was basically a broken instrument of prophecy after nearly a decade of dealing with things Arceus didn't want to resolve itself with a lot of issues he tried to keep to himself, minus the kid's desire to make everyone else happy at the expense of himself.

Case in point, his stupid matchmaking plan with Misty and Anabel. To be honest, the kid had a massive survivor's guilt complex and didn't feel like he deserved to be happy.

"And now he's dealing with the creators of Shadow Pokemon. Alone." Travis said. "They're shipping Shadow Pokemon in bulk to Ferrum. They're preparing for war. Not skirmishes or proxies, full out WAR."

And there was only one target.

The Republic of Selan. They were going to strike and take it.

"We need to warn Ransei about this." Kyoji said quickly. "If they're preparing for war, that means Selan's the only logical target. They can reinforce-"

Cue the only light turning off.

"...Well, fuck." Lacus said as she got off the floor. "I suppose the PLA is lucky once in a while."

Kyoji wanted to laugh about how one of Cipher's former admins was admitting the PLA was a leviathan army that sucked at counter-insurgency. But for now…

"We're going to need to leave." he said instead. "Any ideas on distracting them?"

Sabrina looked up for a second. "They have a teleport inhibitor." she announced. "No teleporting for us."

Gible jumped to his little feet. "Gible!" 'I'll take them out!' the land shark declared. "Giiiiiiiiiiib." 'Let me at them.'

Kyoji looked at his little yellow land shark. "You sure, Gible?" he asked. "It's gonna be dangerous."

"Gib!" 'I want to make new friends!' the shark replied, his teeth sparking.

Kyoji almost felt sorry for them. Almost.

The strike team slowly made its way to the next floor, commisar at their backs.

Then… they heard it.

Vun-vun.

No one moved as the music played, the only thing they did was look around, wondering where the hell it came from.

"Find that thing!" the political officer ordered before drywall exploded, a yellow bullet coming out of the wall and latching onto his head, a Gible eyesmiling before electrocuting him.

It is highly recommended you play Ace of Spades by Motorhead for this. (WHACK!)

The soldiers opened fire, but Gible took flight, dodging their bullets before latching onto another, electrocuting him and making him collapse, knocking a dozen men to their backs on the stairs.

This only made it easier for Gible to zap them, guns falling to the ground as the squad was knocked out but a juxtaposition of the most dangerous thing in the room...that happened to be ADORABLE.

Zhong Feng scowled as his men were taken out by what was essentially a baby Pokemon, a freak of nature that the rest of the world worshipped as akin to children of the gods.

The party knew better. They were animals that were barely more intelligent then the ones they nearly drove to extinction. And too willful to obey all commands given.

"Kill the damn thing already!" he ordered into a microphone. "It's just a Pokemon!"

A thunderbolt stuck the vehicle, frying all the electronics, including the locks, which, unlike most, still worked when the power was out. It kept people out.

And in. And only Zhong had the key.

The marshal screamed as he pounded on the door before something landed on the hood.

"Gible!" cried the Pokemon that landed on the command truck, staring into his very soul...and finding him wanting.

Then a green parrot landed on the shark's head, which then teleported away. That thunderbolt disabled the inhibitor!

They were getting away!

The hidey-hole was back in use again, not a day after they abandoned it.

Gible happily swam through the earth like the shark he was while they debated their next plan.

"We need their war plans." Hitomi said, wearing a coat over her armorsuit. "Command will not launch a preemptive strike without them."

"There's a problem with that." Kieth said lowly. "They're in the Forbidden Palace. Which has teleport dampeners out the ass and enough guns to shred even you two."

Koyji sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. "We got the proof we need." he said simply. "The Shadow Pokemon shipment alone is proof they're preparing for war, so we have our casus belli. Once General Hiruzen knows, we'll be able to take out these idiots."

"And how do you plan to contact the general?" Keith asked, before adding sarcastically "Carrier Pidgey?"

"Actually…" Kyoji looked at Sabrina, smirking as a lighter green ball of feathers with a beak nested on her head. "Carrier parrot."

The cloned Natu made a low 'Natu', their version of a sigh.

Ransei Imperial Intelligence HQ - 1558 hours local time

Naturally, when Hiruzen saw Kyoji walk into his office, soaking wet, all he did was ask if the mission went south. The wetness and stench of salt water, not to mention the Natu, was a sign of how he got back.

The answer to his question?

"Gloriously, but not in the way you think, sir." Kyoji said before laying out their discoveries to him.

The old man decided he needed a drink to fully process this.

"Ferrum is preparing for war. Salen is the perfect stepping stone to Ransei." the old man said. "And Shadow Pokemon by the truck load being brought into the region."

"Those things are only good for war, sir." Kyoji said. "We need to act."

"And you think the council is going to agree to a preemptive strike on this alone?" he asked. "As much as I agree with you, there is no solid evidence."

Kyoji facepalmed. "Sir, what ELSE would they be doing with the Shadow Pokemon?" he asked. "There's no USE for mindless killing machines."

Hiruzen sighed. "I'm going to play devil's advocate for a moment." he said, almost depressingly. "What if they're working on a purification project, something to undo this?"

Kyoji gave his superior a look.

"I know that's as likely as them finally deciding to reform the government to something that actually WORKS, but the Diet won't authorize a strike without proof of what they're doing!" Hiruzen said, raising his voice. "I like it about as much as you do! Get me their plans and I'll make sure they know what's at stake!"

Kyoji and Hiruzen fell silent for a minute, the general silently apologizing to Kyoji for all but yelling. Both men were frustrated.

"I'll head back when Natu is rested." the younger agent said as he petted the exhausted parrot. "I'll take a radio to communicate more often with you, sir."

The old man nodded sullenly. He was getting too old for this shit.

Ron the True Fan: Sometimes I think that. Took a while, but as some of you might be aware, I play Star Trek Online. And to keep y'all entertained, I have to make vids daily. Same with other ones.

Takeshi Yamato: And these things all take time. Not to mention other fic ideas we have in the planning stages. So please, guys, let SoT take a bit of a rest for now.

Ron the True Fan: Funny that we never actually FINISH one.

Ja Ne!