Barty Crouch Sr. sighed as he looked over the books Amelia had dragged out for what seemed like the 100th time. The two of them were sitting the Elite 4's main council room, just them, going over the raw financial numbers for the region. But the numbers were beginning to spin about the page and he blinked, unable to truly make heads or tails of them.

He was tired. So very, very tired.

'We need an accountant,' he thought to himself. 'Except we're logger heads with everything so we are functioning with a skeleton crew!'

When Fudge had been removed from office a vast majority of the Ministry that hadn't been selected by the Elite 4 or the Gym Leaders Council had been dumped along with him. It had been expected that they could just hire in interim staff to keep things going until an election was held and that would only take a few weeks at most, maybe a month.

They'd had that delusion in July. It was now April going on May.

Bureaucracy was an odd and funny thing. The paper trail and order of operations were all supposed to make things easier for the government workers so they might do their jobs. And it was also supposed to make it harder for people to abuse the system by throwing up lovely road blocks. Those two ideals seemed to clash with each other when one truly thought about it and in reality… they did. 100%. They simply didn't work with each other, especially when one set of rules was created by one group and the other by a completely different one. And at different times as well! Different eras!

But no one ever sat and actually THOUGHT about that. Instead politicians and officials liked to brag about one or the other. 'The Avalon Government is designed to run as smoothly as Klinklang!' one would say on the campaign trail as they boasted about how wonderful and magical the system was and how it ensured rapid fast responses. And then a few years later after a scandal someplace else they would proclaim with as just as much bluster that, 'The Avalon Government has rules in place to ensure that such things can never happen HERE!' And then they'd smack their fist on a table and wait for the applause.

In reality though no attempt had ever been made to create a unified set of laws or to keep track of what was on the books. Barty had dug through the laws a lot lately and what he had found had horrified him when it came to the conflicting and competing rules.

'Like the farm bill,' he thought to himself, remembering the presentation he'd given to Amelia and the rest of the Elite 4 a few weeks back that encapsulated their entire situation.

"Back in 1705 there were issues with government officials being able to properly examine farms and ensure that farmers weren't using their fields for purposes other than growing crops."

Onasis huffed at that. "That's why they are farms, Crouch. What else would they be doing, setting up daycares? Letting the babies run around the corn?"

"Actually yes," Barty said, surprising the cranky doctor. "There was a bit of a population spike that decade and a lot of people were looking for cheap homes. Now, in order to build you are supposed to apply for permits and make sure the land is zoned properly for that-"

"They had zoning back them?" Amelia said.

"Oh yes," Croaker said with a smirk. "Avalon had been rather progressive in the 1500s and 1600s and set up some of the first zoning laws in the world."

Barty continued on before Croaker went into a history lesson that truly wasn't needed. "The point is that land was needed for homes and some farmers got a brilliant idea. A law had been passed about 30 years back that farmers would get a discount on taxes they paid to the ministry if they designated parts of their land to purely growing food for Pokemon. Avalon had back them a high trade ratio of importing Pokemon food from the likes of Kalos and that meant, if there was another war, there would be shortages. The government wanted to encourage locally grown Pokemon food."

"Let me guess," Onasis stated, "some farmer came up with the idea of allowing people to build on their lands but claiming the homesteads were still farms so they could get the lower taxes."

"Correct," Barty said. "And they made sure the surround the homes with forested areas that focused on Berries so that it was near impossible for surveyors to discover this; it was only when there was a massive fire outside of Ywain that things were discovered; 20 families were trapped in the inferno because there was no way for the Blastoise team to get through the forest as no proper trails had been cut."

"Alright," Amelia said. "So they created a new law."

"They did. It meant that fields could only be a certain size and had to have proper paths cut into them for ministry regulators to easily inspect the farms. Set just how wide each lane needed to be. Failure to do so meant that a farmer faced harsh penalties and could have their farm taken away.

"Now, in 1890 there was a Drillbur infestation that began to really wreck havoc with farms and, more importantly, local water tables. The Pokemon would burrow through the earth, get into the water table, cause their tunnels to collapse, and create sink holes. People would be having their Tauros pull a wagon down a path when suddenly the ground would collapse. At best someone might just lose a wagon."

"At best."

"It was found the best way to prevent the Drillbur from digging that hard was to plant one of five different Berry trees, so that the roots would form a natural barrier. But the trees would only produce fruit for one season. They weren't getting pollinated because the Combee weren't able to travel the distance needed to pass along pollen. So new rules were placed on how close the trees needed to be planted…"

"And no one thought to check the other law," Croaker said.

"In other words every farm in Avalon is breaking the law and we should arrest every owner… and ensure we all starve or pay millions in import costs."

That was how it was with all the laws in Avalon. Someone had created an ordinance or a regulation thinking that it would solve one problem but never considered how it might play out in the future when the first problem was long gone. Or look back and see if there was a conflict. And thus all the protections for corruption didn't work as there were so many conflictions that cracks formed in the structure of the government and what was supposed to allow them to run smoothly instead because a tangled net.

It was supposed to be easy to deal with the loss of a department head as the Prime Minister would just elect a new one. Except an Interim Minister couldn't elect department heads or staff because there was a law on the books preventing it after one Minister had been killed by an underling who then attempted a coup and put his toadies in position of power. Meaning that until an election was held the positions had to remain empty. Except they had all been in such a rush to clean house and prove to the papers and the people that they were doing something that they hadn't considered that if they got rid of everyone that made it easy for them to hold elections…

'It should have been so simply,' he thought to himself in annoyance. 'Summon the Gym Leaders and take a vote. Except all the people that would arrange it, figure out the calendars and get the meeting hall ready… they were fired!' They Elite 4 had only realized that in October when the elections hadn't happened and been forced to step in and do it themselves. But since they didn't know where half the things were, like the forms needs to start the process, everything had begun to go at a snail's pace.

And then there was the Johtoians.

Their demand to collect all back payment for the housing of the criminals on Sevii, along with the penalties Fudge had activated by breaking the contract… it would destroy the region financially so the Elite 4 had been doing all they could to stall. They had come up with counter offers that failed, offered token payments that did nothing to get the Johtoains to back off, and begged their allies for help only to get snubbed. Galar had its own problems after the fiasco with Chairman Rose and the destruction of their entire power grid. Kalos naturally sided with Johto thanks to the Veela. Hoenn claimed they wanted to help but then stalled as well…

"I need a break," Amelia finally said and Barty let out a sigh of relief as he pushed the ledgers away. "Because I am finding nothing."

"I'm not either," Barty grumbled. "And that is what is worrying me-"

The phone on the desk rang.

"Oh what fresh new hell is this," Amelia muttered. "Hello?"

"Who else is in the room?" a distorted voice said.

"Pardon?" Amelia said.

"Who else is in the room with you, Madame Bones."

Barty glanced at her before clearing his throat. "Barty Crouch Sr."

"Good," the distorted voice said. "You didn't lie." Barty and Amelia looked at each other. "I can see you," the voice said. "We've been watching you for a while." A chill ran down Barty's spine at that. He shouldn't have been surprised… his son was always warning him that the world was changing and evolving and that he and the Elite 4 needed to be better prepared. All sorts of different ways to monitor and spy. He'd shaken off his son's warnings, seeing them as paranoia… and now he cursed himself for thinking that.

"So you're watching us," Amelia stated calmly either though Barty knew that internally she must be seething at someone managing to get a camera into their inner sactum.

"With the same equipment that is currently jamming the other monitoring equipment that has been set up," the voice told them. "You are very popular. Two Nocturne devices, one from Sinnoh, a Hoenn… and I can't confirm it but I'd say due to how it's not allowing a trace back the hacker that attacked the Josephs and their bank last year has one in place."

"Well, thank you for that," Amelia said dryly. "I would say I will sweep to destroy all of them but this is where you tell me that's not needed?"

"Mostly because its too late," the voice said. "Code Tangela-Five-Klingler-Four-Seven-Seven-Three."

Amelia went ramrod straight.

"What?" Barty asked. "What is it?"

"That…" she whispered, "is a code I gave only to my most trusted Aurors. It is to be used if they need to report dire news." She looked at the phone. "And there is only one auror-"

"Don't finish that sentence," the voice warned. "It is best I remain… in the shadows."

'Shacklebolt,' Barty thought. 'It can only be Shacklebolt.' The man and his family had disappeared after the Tor Town Incident but reports of him popping up all over the globe had come in… including him operating out of Avalon.

"Why are you contacting us?" Amelia asked.

"In thirty minutes you are going to receive a call about an attack on the train station in Gallahad. One bomb detonated, another three detected, with an active shooter." Amelia rose. "Don't be a fool. There will be a bomb but it will be in a corner janitor closet in one of the recently closed off wings. No one will be hurt-"

"-but I'll need to send an entire team in," Amelia said.

"Don't," Shacklebolt warned her. "Crouch… you will also receive word of a radar jammer… don't waste the time worrying about it. Both of you need to mobilize the aurors and be prepared to call the International Police."

"What is going on?"

"The calls are distractions. Voldemort is going to attack Modred's End. Remus Lupin and Sirius Black are currently there-"

"They want hostages to use against Harry Potter," Amelia said.

"Correct," Shacklebolt said. "Don't let them."

And with that he hung up.

"…do we do what he says?"

Amelia rubbed her chin. "… call your son now. Get him to put out feelers. I'm going to send a few aurors to be ready to go to Gallahad and have a few teams ready to hit Modred's End."

"We don't have a choice, do we?"

"Not until we hear back from the International Police."

~MC~MC~MC~

Kingsley hung up the phone and looked at Jonas. "It's done."

"Good," the head of the Johto Police Force said with a nod. "Very good. Get your people ready. We'll move out in 25."

"Are you sure we'll make it in time?" he asked.

"Tonks is monitoring Modred's End for us," Jonas assured him. "If Nocturne moves sooner than we expected then we'll at least have a bit of time to react. But we can't rush in… we need Nocturne to actually show up. Hopefully with Admins we can take."

Kingsley nodded before having his recently caught Kadabra teleport him away. Jonas let out a sigh before he pulled out a burner phone and called another number. "Lance, it's Jonas… Kingsley Shacklebolt made contact with Avalon."

"None of them will get in the way?"

"I've sent them on the wild goose chase Jack came up with," Jonas said. "The Aurors will look into the bomb Nocturne sent but they'll send most of their forces to Modred's End. By the time they realize there is no harm..." he trailed off. "I don't like this plan."

"Jack said it's the only way."

"Jack's not thinking straight. Ever since him and Harry fought he's had his focus in the wrong places. I don't like it."

"We have to trust that this will work," Lance assured him.

"I hope so," Jonas said even as his gut told him things were about to go VERY wrong.

~MC~MC~MC ~

As he sat in the cabin that had once belong to the Parkinson family Lucius Malfoy found himself thinking about the horrible year he'd gone through and how it could all be traced back to his choice two years back to unmask in that damn graveyard.

Before that things had been going so well. Even with his dyke whore of a sister showing up and revealing that his claims of being the one and only head of the House of Malfoy were… no, they weren't wrong! Not wrong at all! He WAS the Head of the Family! Both in Avalon and in Kalos! His father… his fool of a father… he had been mad to make Cynthia his heir. So what if she was older? She was a woman. A lesbian who spent her summers traveling the globe sleeping in the dirty and befriending Johtoian filth! She barely deserved to keep the Malfoy name after all the disgraces she'd heaped on the family and yet his father STILL had made her his heir?

His father must have been sick in the mind long before he'd finally passed away a decade ago. That was the only answer.

So no, Cynthia could cry until the Miltanks came home that she was the Head of the Malfoy family… it would never make it so. Words were wind. They meant nothing. Lucius was the Head of the Family. Everything she had… was his. Their mansion, the summer estate, the land holdings, the bank accounts… all of it. It didn't matter if none of it was legally in his name. Or if he hadn't stepped foot in the Malfoy Chataeu since he'd stormed out after his father had denied him one last time his birthright. He didn't care that all his attempts to get access to the family holdings had been thwarted… none of it mattered.

It was all his.

'Even if I could use them right now,' he thought with a touch of bitterness, his mind going to the graveyard and his unmasking.

His master had thought it was going to be his crowning moment. That he was going to reveal himself to Potter, force him to submit, and then kill the little bastard before shapeshifting into Potter's form (all the talk of Voldemort being some phantom was just pathetic ghost stories from Dumbledore's cowardly allies). Then he would use Potter's influence as 'Lily's Heir' (rubbish, all that, to think a woman whose family came from Pokemon hating stock could have defeated the Dark Lord of Nocturne) to slowly put things right. To put them all in a position of power once again.

Only that damn Looker had shown up and ruined it all.

Last year had been spent trying to undo all the damage his revealing had caused. Even in Avalon, where a few Pokedollars could easily smooth over most understandings, there had still been a grave amount of questions and concerns about what had been seen. Fudge had still talked with him but others in the government had moved to push him away, to minimize his influence. It hadn't worked… but it had eaten up more time and money. But he'd managed to convince Fudge at least that the entire Nocturne attack had been nothing at all… that Potter had been seeing things and his foreign devils were just trying to make life harder on Avalon so they could claim something from them.

'So close… I'd been so close!' Lucius thought as he held his hands out to the fire that was burning in the hearth. 'A few more weeks, maybe a month… and I could have had Fudge push to wipe the record clean of any claims of my involvement. Had him get Bones to call off her investigations. Begun to rebuild my power base!'

It had been a blow when the other members of Nocturne's upper command structure had begun to disappear. McNair. Parkinson. And the Knights Bus Incident… that had been going so well and they'd had to kill off everyone involved just to tie up loose ends. Lucius hated it when he had to cut a plan short. It was a waste of resources.

'And I know much about waste,' he thought to himself in disgust. During the Civil War Lucius had been more than happy to donate to the cause… mostly because there were plenty of others who were also bankrolling Nocturne and thus he could claim his small contributions were resulting in grand things. And there was the fact that it wasn't actually his money by Narcissa's wealth that her family had given him control of with their marriage. It had allowed him to rise through the ranks rather quickly and continued to show the people of Avalon that he deserved to be counted amongst their highest and mightiest.

But this time… this time things had changed. The Dark Lord had returned to an Avalon where the old families had been wiped out. The old had managed to avoid punishment but died of old age and sickness while their heirs had been killed in the war as well as the general jockeying and positioning for power that just naturally came from their desires to be the ones on top. And those that had remained had been foolish with their money, wasting it on signs of status rather than preparing for the return of their Lord. That meant that Lucius was the sole backer of his Lord's campaign and forced to give far more than he would have desired.

'And what I have given has been wasted,' he thought bitterly. They had far too victories to show for what he had given up, money wasted on pathetic admins that should have never been given a higher status beyond Grunt. 'Then Bones got it in her head to come after us after the disaster that was Tor Town…'

Lucius would have thought Tor Town was a success even without the death of Kenway. It had driven off the Johtoians for a while and exposed the Aurors as corrupt, sinking their standing in the eyes of many within Avalon's government to a new low. But the cost… their mole had been rooted out, Bones now had a reason to come after them even harder…

'And Narcissa,' he thought quietly to himself. Everyone said it was suicide. That she had killed herself in grief over Lucius' alignment with the Dakr Lord. But he knew better. He knew that she would never have disgraced him as she had. Narcissa was a proud Old Blood who knew that it was the duty of a wife to see to her husband's rise within society. To kill herself… and more importantly lay blame on him? It was impossible.

He knew the fucking Johtoians were responsible.

'We tried to hang that bastard Kenway so they hung Narcissa in retaliation,' he thought bitterly. 'And thus the dominos began to fall.' Her death had destroyed the illusion of a happy home. Draco, the weakling that he was, had already been a disappointment in how he'd failed to make ties with Potter. But the death of Narcissa had rendered the boy a wreck and in the end Lucius had been forced to threaten him into behaving and acting like a true Malfoy. He had washed his hands of his son, letting the Dark Lord do what he wished with him when he requested Draco's… skills. 'What little there may be,' Lucius thought as he threw another log on the fire, wincing as the hard bark cut into his fingers. 'And then there was the Ministry attack. I still have no understanding what my Lord was thinking there.' He had been disgusted and appalled by what had occurred… not because of the death of the Heads of Houses because they were all traitors. No, it was how utterly sloppy the entire thing had been. Far too rushed. Far too many mistakes made. They invaded the fucking Ministry and had captured the Minister, Dumbledore, AND Harry Potter… and all they had to show for it was a few dead teachers?

The less said about how his Master had gone on a rampage the better.

After that things had spiraled into madness. Fudge had been cast out and along with his nearly all of the department heads… most of whom Lucius had helped Fudge select and were loyal to him. No more. They didn't even HAVE department heads and Avalon was coming apart at the seams and when they were selected there was little hope that any of them would dance to Lucius' tune. Potter had apparently fallen out with Kenway and his lot but that only meant he'd been drawn closer to Dumbledore who was, per reports, some magic wielder from an extinct order of knights!

Worst of all Lucius, with no allies in the Ministry, had been forced to feel. Parkinson's hunting cabin had become his home and while certainly far nicer than any dwelling the average person might select for themselves it was still far below Lucius-

His burner dex buzzed and Lucius fumbled for it, activating it only to scowl as he saw the leering features of his sister-in-law.

"Well well well… it seems my dear prissy brother-in-law has certainly let himself go!" she taunted.

Lucius forced himself not to say a word… mostly because she was right. In order to hide out he'd been forced to change his appearance as it simply wouldn't do if someone stumbled onto the cabin and saw him walking out in his finest. No… his hair had been shaved completely off while he'd grown out a rather itchy beard (and do the the loveliness of genetics his mother's dark locks had finally made themselves known by peppering the damn this so he looked like he had been blasted by a paint sprayer). He wore scruffy clothing like some woodsman and allowed himself the luxury of a bath only once every 3 days. He stank and he was always filthy and worst of all he was bored out his mind. His Pokemon could only teleport so many things to keep his mind active and he didn't want them delivering anything that might be traced; the dex was his only electronic and it was linked to only a few others with the 4G disabled so he wasn't tempted to check the news constantly. He didn't sleep well, even after all this time, as every sound at night had him up and worried. Others may have forgotten… but McNair had been killed in his own cabin in the middle of the night. And he'd had far more protection that Lucius did since he didn't know how to turn on Parkinson's security systems.

"Bellatrix," he said to his late wife's sister.

"Why be that way dear brother," Bellatrix cooed, "when we could make such a great team? The greatest trainers of our generation." Her face suddenly twisted into a snarl. "Despite what they say about that WHORE Lily Evans."

"I understand hating Lily," Lucius said dryly. "She cost us much. But it is so unseemly for you to loathe her because of petty childish feuds."

"She convinced Alice to go after MY Frank! She helped her STEAL my life!"

"It would have never been your life, Bella," Lucius said; he frankly was in no mood to deal with her delusions. "You would have ruined it. And that's why we could never work together… you're mad."

"I see things the way they should be," Bellatrix's holographic form warned.

"You see fantasies that you've convinced yourself are real. But… they aren't."

"She stole it from me… just like Narcissa stole YOU from me."

Lucius just shook his head at that. "I would never have picked you. I didn't even want Narcissa. It was Andromeda I wanted. Narcissa was simply the best of the worst."

"Oh I could show you the best of MY worst," Bella purred.

"I've seen what you consider your best and it is lacking," Lucius told her. "Now, did you call here purely because you were bored or did you actually have something to tell me?"

Bellatrix pressed her lips together and with an immature huff said, "Master has called a meeting. All of us are to listen."

"Then patch me through."

There was a flicker and Bellatrix's form changed to that of a man wearing a dark hood that covered his face though he could see just the hint of a beard upon his features. That was all. That was all any of those watching could see of Lord Voldemort.

"The time has come," he declared. "The hour… is at last at hand. Soon we will control the greatest symbol of power in all of Avalon. And our enemies will tear themselves apart before us. To each of you I am sending the coordinates. Greyback… are the bombs planted?"

"The station will serve as the perfect distraction," the mercenary growled in delight, it clear that it had been far too long since he'd been allowed to engage in bloodletting.

"Then prepare yourselves, my dear friends… for the end."

~MC~MC~MC~

"Well well well," Draco said lazily as Harry and Leon turned the corner and stumbled upon the blond prick. "Where are your little friends, Potter? Get tired of dealing with your childish tantrums and brooding?"

"I'd ask the same thing about you but it's clear that you never really had any friends, did you?" Harry smirked. "Crabbe and Goyle avoid you now that daddy can't pay them off. Pansy is in Alola earning lunch money by polishing helmets, and the rest of the Slytherins are wishing Slowking had declared you "House Lake" so they could have dumped you in the water."

Draco glared at Harry before forcing a smile on his face. "You truly have no idea what is coming, do you?"

"Not really… other than some boring monologue about how amazing and special you are."

"But I am amazing… and special." Draco held up his wrist and for the first time Harry saw that the twat was wearing some weird wrist watch. It was big and clunky and it looked like the creation of some insane tinkerer. "Impressed?"

"By your shitty watch?" Leon asked. He tilted his head. "Does it tell time?"

"It is a Geo Positioning Unit and Jammer."

"…so it doesn't tell time."

"Get your licks in now Potter!" Draco taunted.

"He's the one that said it, not me!" Harry complained. Though his protests did lose something when he was smirking so much.

Draco straightened his back. "This watch has been on my person since before the Solstice. It's taken months of me wandering about, going through every corner and hallway of Hogwarts. Measuring every device that runs through it. The simple things like the WiFi and the cameras… to the complex. Like-" Draco smirked, "the security systems. And the Anti Teleportation Devices."

Harry, for the first time since the conversation had begun, felt ice pooling in the pit of his stomach. "Draco…"

"This is your end, Potter," Draco said. "Your last hour. You won't be escaping the Dark Lord this time. And it comes-" Draco pressed a button on the watch, "-from my hand."

Silence filled the hall.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

And then… the screams of fright and the cries of attack commands.

'Great Harry Potter!' Dobby screamed in Harry's head; he'd left the psychic type with Hedwig while he went to grab something to eat from the kitchen. 'There be Nocturne Agents swarming Hogwarts!'

"Draco…" Harry whispered.

"This is your end, Potter!" Draco cackled in delight, throwing out his arms. "We are going to purge you and every one of your filthy, disgusting, worthless little peons from this school! First you… and then the Slytherins. Oh… Lord Voldemort is most displeased with my house… so I will be the LAST Slytherin. The rest… the rest deserve death. From seventh year to firstie. And I will start with-"

Harry snapped his hand out, the skin peeling away, and without thought fired a beam of energy right through Draco's throat.

The blond stood there for a moment, his rant cut short as he tried to cough up the blood that beg to come up. But Harry's blast had cauterized the wound, leaving a smocking hole through his neck. Nothing came up… nothing went down. He tried to suck in air but his chest just convulsed. Draco stared at Harry, reaching up and touching the wound.

"I told you," Harry said darkly, his mask shattered but for once there were no roars or bellows. Just coldness. Draco fell against the wall, tears in his eyes even as Harry walked up and grabbed him by the shoulder, not allowing him to fall. There would be no forgiveness. No faked redemption so he might go on with his life. No marrying some foolish girl and having a son that looked just like him that would continue on the madness of his line. "No second chances."

Harry ripped Draco's Pokeball Holder off his waist before letting his rival fall to the ground. He stared at Draco's twitching form, knowing that he was dying… and fired another blast, this time right at his head, turning his skull into a red pulp.

"…fuck Harry," Leon whispered.

"Don't leave knives that can stab you in the back," Harry said. He touched his glasses and activated the comm. unite in them. "Guys?"

"Harry mate!" Ron cried out. "What the fuck is-"

"Nocturne has invaded the school! We have to evacuate everyone, now! They're going after Gryffindor first and then the Slytherins! Neville, you get the Gryffindors. Luna, you take Hufflepuff; Veela them if you have to! Ron… you and Ginny go to the Slytherins." He began to run down the hall even as from the outside of the school he could hear the panicked screams of students and knew he wasn't going to be able to save them all.

"I'll call Daphne!" Ron declared.

"Hermione, you take Ravenclaw!"

"What about you, Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I need to find the Headmaster-"

'Great Harry Potter!'

'What is it Dobby?'

'Me and Heddy Wiggy find Headmaster.'

'Where?'

'The roof.'

Harry blinked before darting for the stairs. 'Why is he on the roof?'

'It scary Speaker!' Dobby declared. 'Theys be fighting!'

'Jack…' Harry thought.

He began to run harder.