Chapter 1: Meeting of the minds.

Ooc: Hey guys thanks for the likes and reviews. I'm new at FanFiction and this is my first attempt. I'll add breaks, etc in here once I figure out how to do it. Thank you for the likes and reviews. This chapter I just wanted to play around with some concepts before I get into the meat of the story.

"First day on the job and she's late.", the old fire gym leader was not happy. Not one bit. He continued to look at his watch.

"Centi...", the fire centipede Pokémon just shook its head out of annoyance, he had warned his trainer. Warned him about picking this particular trainer to be added to the staff of the prominent institute. But not master Kabu listen? Not at all. The centiskortch just looked at the entrance to the Pokémon Gym leader Institute and just shook its head.

Kabu, the legendary former fire gym leader in Galar continued to pace for another 10 minutes. His loyal centiskortch watched him with a "I told you so" look. Kabu was taking a risk backing this young girl for such a prominent role. Now it had backfired. But someone had given him a chance and he wanted to do the same for his favorite pupil. Finally Kabu stopped pacing. A dejected look crossed over his face as he eyed his centiskortch.

"Come on old friend, we had better go-"

"Master Kabu!" a high pitched voice called out. The fire master turned to see a reddish haired girl running towards him. In her arms was her beloved Torkoal who was struggling against her grip. The girl was wearing a red blous and jeans with a jacket. The red head arrived in front of the fire master, who did not look amused. Kabu stared at the young gym leader with a judgements eye. The red head was panting trying to catch her breath.

"Sorry...we're late...overslept."

"No excuses, Flannery. We have a meeting with our other colleagues and you're late. Is this how I taught you to act?", his tone was stern. Flannery hung her head in shame. Even her beloved torkoal was embarrassed by their tardiness.

"I'm sorry Master Kabu. I was just so excitied that I couldn't get to sleep. I must have forgotten to set my alarm. But I just couldn't wait to start my first day as a instructor.", Flannery was beaming with joy and excitement. Her red eyes were longing with joy. Kabu couldn't be that mad at her. Her joy was infectious.

"Alright. I understand. In fact I was the same way when I first started as a instructor." Kabu recalled fondly. "But it cannot happen again. Remember I am the one who recommended you for this position. If you fail, so do I."

"Centiskortch!", his trusted pokemon added. The centiskortch stared at Flannery's torkoal who stared back. Both Pokémon had a rivalry since Flannery was Kabu's student. They both thought they were the superior fire Pokémon. Flannery's torkoal's steam started to pour come from its shell, blasting flannery in the face.

"Torkoal! What are you doing?", she coughed trying to breathe again through the smoke

"Tor...Koal!", the fire tortoise Pokémon struggled to get out of his trainers grasp. Clearly it wanted to fight the fire centipede Pokémon. Cebtiskorch meanwhile just chuckled.

Kabu was less than amused. His state sent a spine down Flannery's spine. Even the torkoal seemed to wither under kabu's gaze. Kabu shook his head. "She's still not learned", he was fond of Flannery. That was why he had pushed so hard for her to become the beast remember of the staff. But if she was going to act like this then maybe the others were right, she was too immature.Kabu started to question if he had made the right decision. He looked at his watch to see that they really needed to go. Flannery's lecture would have to wait.

"Flannery, we must go. We are already quite late for the meeting. You don't want to make that bad of an impression.", Flannery nodded and followed her mentor Kabu. The little conflict between her torkoal and the centiskortch would have to be taken up at some other time.

The Gym Leader Institute was the capital of gothic architecture in the Galar region. People from throughout other regions would come from all around just to look at the campus. The grounds were sprawling with castle like buildings throughout. There were towers that were good for sneaking to hook up in not that Flannery would know anything about that. She was a lady after all. Flannery hadn't been on campus since she had defeated Kabu in battle and gotten her own gym. It still took her breath away as the memories started flooding back to her. She enjoyed being back on campus. It held a special place in her heart. That's why she had jumped at the chance to come back as a professor. Sure she had to resign from her gym, but she wanted to inspire students as Kabu had done for her.

Kabu and his centiskortch would lead Flannery to just outside a rather large tower. Two statues of a Solrock and a Lunatone were placed right outside the door. Flannery didn't remember ever seeing this building before. The tower was clearly old, probably one of the oldest buildings on campus. How she didn't know about this tower confused her.

"This is the private quarters of the professors. This is where we eat, meet, and live. Most don't realize it's here because they don't really look for it. So it's hiding in plain sight." Kabu sensed the confusion of his former pupil and wanted to clear it up. Flannery nodded as her mouth was agape at the sheer beauty of the building.

Kabu pulled out his ID card and scanned it. The doors to the tower swung open beckoning them inside. Flannery was especially stunned when she entered. The interior of the building could not have been in more of a contrast to the exterior. The interior was painted neutral colors such as grey and white. There was a large welcome desk with all of the modern trimmings. There were glass rooms that could freeze causing the viewing outside of the room to be obscured. Machamp and Machokes walked around as guards. Flannery was beyond impressed.

"This is the welcome center for new professors. You'll do your orientation down here once our meeting is finished. Second floor is the cafeteria. Third floor is the living quarters. Fourth floor is the private boardroom. That's where we are headed."

"Master Kabu, this is amazing. I didn't even imagine that this was here when I was a student.its absolutely beautiful", even her torkoal was mystified by the perks of being an instructor.

"You haven't seen anything yet. Just wait until more of the secrets are revealed. But we have to head up to the fourth floor. It's imperative we get to this meeting now."

Flannery nodded. Kabu led them into the elevator. This was a good reprieve for Flannery. It allowed her to take everything she had just seen in. The usually excitable red head was even more excited. She couldn't wait to see what else there was in store. After all she never imagined she would be in this position. Now here she was about to go into her first meeting as a faculty member.

"I can't wait", she mumbled.

The elevator stopped on the fourth floor, but as the doors swung open Flannery was confused. The hall was dark. It was like no one was there. It totally cpgave her the creeps. She tightened her grip on her torkoal. The only light came from Kabu's centiskortch and her torkoal. This didn't seem right. Still a part of her knew that her mentor wouldn't do anything sketchy... right?

"Shoot. I guess we missed it." Kabu said as he stepped out of the elevator. Flannery hung her head in shame. This was her fault.

"Master Kabu, I-"

"SURPRISE!", the noise caused Flannery to jump into the air as laughter filled the floor.

The lights flickered on and inside the boardroom were all of Flannery's new colleagues. The room was decorated in red and black streamers which were Flannery's favorite colors. In the rafters was a banner that read "Welcome Flannery." There were pictures of Flannery covering the walls of the room. All her colleagues wore party hats except for Sabrina. Even the usually tough Lt. Surge was wearing a hat. Flannery was overwhelmed. Tears started to fill her eyes with joy. For the first time in Flannery's life she was speechless.

"You guys...I...don't know...what to say."

"Well that's a first. Usually in my class you were the loudest one", Wattson, the boisterous gym leader turned instructor burst out laughing. Flannery chuckled the old teacher always had some sort of joke like that.

"I am so glad that you have not changed much Master Wattson", Flannery chuckled. She looked over at Kabu. This had to be his idea, right? Of course it had to be.

"Master Kabu, thank you so much."

The fire master shook his head, "I had nothing to do with this. It was actually Whitney's idea. I was just to be the vessel to bring you to the party."

As if on cue, the pink haired normal type master placed an arm around Flannery. The beauty flashed her smile that could even make a Gyrados blush.

"Well I remember my first day as an instructor. There was no welcoming party. I was just given a booklet and told to study.", Whitney shook her head in annoyance. A tsk tsk noise coming from her. "Quite frankly my mentor was a dick."

"I take exception to that! I made you tough", the familiar gruff voice of Lt. Surge called out and flared at Whitney. The pink haired female just rolled her eyes. She led Flannery away from Kabu and Surge to an area where Valerie, Candice, and Sabrina waited. Of course the psychic master was the only one not wearing a hate. Instead she looked as if she wanted to be far far away from all of this.

"I thought we could have some girl talk and relax before you got bogged down with the specifics.", Flannery nodded and smiled.

So the Pokémon Gym Leader Institute instructors would all enjoy the party in honor of their newest member. Flannery was pulled in different directions. Asked questions about battling and what her plans for her course were. Even her torkoal got into the action as he went to play with the other pokemon. There was food and drinks. It was the best welcoming party Flannery could even imagine. She had not expected this. It was amazing. Any doubts that had crept into her mind were now gone. She had made the right decision to join the staff.

Of course not everyone was enjoying the party. Sabrina had escaped the girl talk torture session. She made her way to a corner where Lt. Surge was sitting. He had removed the party hat and seemed to be looking for someone else. Someone that was not at the party. Sabrina looked at Lt. Surge.

"You look like you're having a blast.", the gruff voice said towards the psychic master.

"You do too. Something on your mind?", Sabrina let out a small smile. Since giving up her gym and joining the institute, she smiled more much to everyone's surprise.

"Where's Giovanni?"

The psychic master whipped around looking for her colleague. Giovanni was distrusted by most of the staff. Sure he had declared he was different. He had denounced Team Rocket and said he just wanted to educate the students. He was about Pokémon battling now rather than stealing the creatures. Still all the staff members did not trust Giovanni. They couldn't given his history. They would be idiots to do so. Surge and Sabrina especially had been distrustful of Giovanni given that he had already betrayed the gym leader code. The fact that Giovanni was not at this party sent warning signals in Sabrina's already distrustful brain.

Erseen prison was the largest in Galar. Home to the most disgusting creatures in society. Pokémon thieves and others were traditionally housed here. But now the prison had been cleared out of those people. Instead it was filled with Macro Cosmos' employees. Those that had brought about the second darkest day. They had unleashed a horrific power upon the Galar region. Now they had to suffer the consequences.

Of course Chairman Rose was housed here. He was in his own cell. No one visited. He preferred it that way. Rose had done what was right even if no one else could understand it. He had saved Galar. They called him mad, but he was a hero. So what if they didn't understand. Not even Peony, his own flesh and blood understood. Peony called him a monster. That was not the case. Rose saved everyone. He was fine taking the blame. History would treat him well.

"Rose, you have a visitor."

The former chairman was awoken by the guard standing at his cell. A visitor? How could he have a visitor? Rose shook his head as if not believing it. But the guard was still there. Now he was intrigued...

The former chairman was led to the visitor room. No one else was there. Except a man in a suit. As the chairman turned prisoner got closer, he rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe who was there. The former leader of Team Rocket smiled his cat like grin as Rose sat down, stunned. Giovanni across from him. The only other thing on the table was a black brief case.

"Hello Rose, a friend sent me. We have much to discuss."