Unova is very different from the regions which they had lived or visited previously. It's their first time here and the skyscrapers that greeted them is probably the tallest and grandest piece of architecture they ever saw.
"A very bustling city," she cannot help but comment as they leisurely walked down the stairs hand in hand to disembark the ship that they were on and finally touch down on Unova soil at Castelia City. Their respective cities which they were born in are all port cities, so they couldn't help but make comparisons upon seeing Unova's port city with their own eyes.
"Definitely the busiest looking port city we ever saw," he agreed with his large warm hand holding onto hers. The wind is strong here and Jasmine had to use her free hand to press down onto her sunhat lest it was blown off.
They were both a little famished so their first stop was the nearest restaurant that caught their eye, one that did not require them to queue for long to get some sustenance for themselves. Castelia City is a melting pot of various cultures from all over the world due to the very nature of it being a port city and how Unova actively incorporates foreign cultures into their own. The food they ordered was a fusion of Unova and Alola cuisine which tasted surprisingly delicious despite its not so appetising appearance.
"Where's our hotel?" She asked as they continued to aimlessly wander the streets and do some sightseeing. She knew that Volkner had booked a hotel room prior to this but she had no idea just where it was.
"It should be nearby…" He checked the map on his poketch and observed their surroundings for verification. He pinpointed the location of their temporary residence to be just five streets away. It would be a bit of a long walk, but still within walkable distance.
They were not even ten minutes into their walk when her lucario who was walking beside them grunted out something which caught her attention.
"Lucy?"
Her lucario's eyes glanced to a side in cue, something which did not go amiss by her husband and his pokemon as well. Scrat seemed to understand what Lucy was trying to convey and squeaked something to Volkner, who acted the part as their pokemon's translator and whispered the message to her.
"Lucy is trying to say that someone with bad intentions is tailing us."
Just barely an hour into their Unova trip and they were already being targeted. Just great.
"Your plan?"
"Let's just meet whoever is trying to tail us. We are in need of a guide anyway," he suggested as he inconspicuously changed their direction and led her towards a more deserted street. They eventually arrived at a deserted back alley and she knew it's about them for them to confront this unknown stalker.
"Squeaky."
Volkner's raichu disappeared in a flash of yellow upon his command, zipping round the corner and tackling down the stalker which had been following them. Whirlipedes began to drop down on them from above, spitting out countless venomous needles of Poison Sting but Lucy easily blocked the assault with a Vacuum Palm, dispersing the rain of Poison Sting in a single blow.
Simisears and Muk emerged in an ambush but Scrat was swift in disabling them with Thunder Wave before knocking them out with Discharge. They had no idea just how many enemies there are but it seemed that whoever was following them were not trainers of remarkable skill and they saw a shadow quickly running away to make its escape upon seeing that their plan had failed.
"Get him, Jo."
Volkner's Jolteon zipped off in a flash upon being released from its pokeball in order to pursue their attacker. The remaining hostile pokemon were being swiftly put down within seconds and it wasn't long before their pokemon dragged their captured targets along with them.
It was a group of three and they honestly didn't look like much. They were soon begging for mercy with her husband doing the interrogation as she simply stood aside and watched. These three were simply grunts belonging to Team Plasma who thought they would be easy pickings when they saw that they only had a raichu, pachirisu, and lucario accompanying them. They believed that they could take on a lucario and had dismissed Squeaky and Scrat as threats but unluckily for them, their targets were ex Gym Leaders.
"Man, Team Plasma really is a huge problem if even their grunts had no qualms commiting crimes in broad daylight like this, and this is Castelia City, not some rural town," Volkner complained after he knocked them out and had Jarvis sent the local police an anonymous call to pick up the downed Team Plasma grunts before they left. It would be too much trouble to turn these criminals in personally, to quote her husband's words, which she agreed with. It would be much more convenient for them if the police came to pick these criminals up while the both of them made themselves scarce.
One can never be too careful these days, especially in a region as chaotic as Unova.
Their decision to make their trip to Unova consisted of various reasons. It was because Volkner wanted to tie up the loose ends of the Galactic problem which he felt he should have done before he stepped down as Gym Leader. It was also because the threat of the knowledge of the invention of Master Balls is too dire a problem to be left alone as it is. It's also because Looker had extended a request to them as the interpol representative to ask for their aid and they agreed, the fact that they would be meeting and working alongside some familiar faces once more is just an added bonus.
She had a lot more free time on her hands now that she had also stepped down from her position as Gym Leader and handed it off to Eusine. It would be a while before her successor is truly ready for the role and Bruno is temporarily handling the daily operations of the gym until then, but that is no longer something which she should be concerned about. She had grown weary and tired of her role ever since the Battle of Olivine had ended despite not regretting her decision to become a Gym Leader. The fact that she had lost six of her beloved pokemon was also a deciding factor to retire because it would be too difficult to fulfil her duties as Gym Leader with such a huge loss to the number of pokemon on her main team.
Unova had called on the other regions for assistance to deal with the Plasma problem that had been worsening at an alarming rate as of late. Through Flint, Volkner was aware that quite a handful of Galactics who were still actively trying to sabotage Sinnoh had coincidentally fled to Unova and he decided that he might as well finish what he started years ago. After the Sinnoh League was aware that Volkner would be heading to Unova, they decided that he might as well be Sinnoh's representative in answering Unova's call for assistance, something which Volkner agreed to.
Indigo is still in the midst of recovery and they couldn't spare anyone, but the moment they were made aware that she would be accompanying Volkner to Unova she was also "appointed" to represent Indigo for this matter.
Truthfully, Jasmine was pretty certain that neither Sinnoh nor Indigo were actually planning to offer aid to Unova if it wasn't for her and her husband coincidentally heading to Unova upon Looker's request. It just so happens that their respective status as ex Gym Leaders coincided with what was needed by their respective Leagues. The Indigo and Sinnoh League had no real interests to answer Unova's call for aid but for appearances' sake, had to take some action to not make them look as if they were not intending to help. Volkner and her were simply going to the right place at the right time which presented the perfect answer to their problems.
Thus, on the surface, it would seem that Volkner and her were representing their individual Leagues to aid Unova. In actuality, they were simply answering to Looker's personal request to offer their expertise while using this opportunity to further their own agenda at the same time.
Everything really made her wonder just how long this farce of international cooperation would last before it eventually fell apart, but that's politics for you. Fake appearances and empty promises are to be expected.
The most sincere party in this joint cooperation among the seven regions would be Hoenn, which according to her knowledge had really sent over two Gym Leaders to aid Unova in dealing with the Plasma problem. She still has no idea which two Gym Leaders they had sent and would only know when she sees them, but at least there's one region who's still willing to commit to the initial cause which the interpol was originally founded for. The cynic in her felt that it would be a matter of time before Hoenn became disheartened by the other regions' lack of effort in contributing to this shared effort and pulled out of it as well, but that's a problem for future her to worry about.
They have to attend a meeting as their regions' representative where Unova's representative would brief them about a huge joint operation to drastically cut down the Plasmas to size. Unova had been making preparations for this very day but they also needed additional Pillar level trainers to handle threats that cannot be handled by the average trainer. That is where people like them come in.
"A little to the left… Yup. Three, two, one, smile~"
They had left for the meeting early and so were taking their own sweet time to appreciate the sights on their way to the meeting venue. Volkner was especially enthusiastic about taking photos of her and she let him have his fun. They were feeling touristy and even with them taking several detours along the way they still ended up being the earliest to arrive at the meeting venue, a secret military base under the Unova League.
"We really shouldn't have arrived so early."
"I don't think it will be long before the other parties arrive. Who do you think Hoenn sent over?"
"Eh, definitely not Wattson and Juan, they are getting on in their age, sending them on an overseas trip would be a torture for their old bones. Liza and Tate are also unlikely candidates because they are so young, but I wouldn't discount them completely because it might be precisely for this reason that Hoenn sent them over to get some experience and widen their horizons. Still, those twerps are unlikely candidates. That leaves five more other possible options."
"They are all rather young. Hoenn had a huge change in ranks a few years back but they somehow managed to tide over that trying period. Quite impressive."
"I'm kinda interested in meeting Norman. You know, the man who is arguably the strongest Gym Leader of Hoenn right now?"
"Are you going to challenge him to a battle?"
"I'm not against such an idea," Volkner freely admitted. "Franky would definitely be eager to exchange blows with that monstrous slaking. I heard people saying very few pokemon could outlast three moves against Norman's slaking, it's pretty crazy if you think about it."
"Probably exaggerated."
"But wouldn't things be more interesting if it turned out to be true?"
Fortunately, they weren't kept waiting for long. The second party to arrive at the venue were the very people which they were looking forward to meeting on this trip.
"Volkner? Why are you- You are the reinforcement Looker told us about?"
She believed that her husband was a bad influence when she found herself thinking that the collectively shocked expressions on the faces of the interpol members were highly amusing. From the looks of it Looker had not let them in that they will be here to assist them in dealing with the Plasma problem. It didn't take them long to break the ice and she accepted their sincerest congratulations for making a full recovery. They were soon engaged in excited chatters, with her conversing mainly with Mary since she found herself having more common interests with that gentle woman while Volkner went to talk to Velda and Skye who's he closer to within the interpol.
And the moment Hoenn's representatives arrived, she knew right away that the spark for pokemon battles that Volkner usually kept hidden had been reignited upon seeing just who walked through those doors. The presence of the Lavaridge Gym Leader was a welcomed one since a powerful Fire Specialist like her is worth her weight in gold in large-scale operations like the one they will find themselves in, but it is the fact that Hoenn had really sent Norman over spoke volumes of just how much they also view Team Plasma as a threat to the world.
"You are Petalburg City's Gym Leader?"
True enough, Volkner just couldn't help but introduce himself to the legendary Hoenn trainer once Flannery and Norman were done catching up with Velda, who obviously had personal dealings with the talented girl that even her husband had taken a shine to as well.
"Norman," Norman introduced himself once Velda helpfully introduced them both to each other. It wasn't hard to tell that there was a glint in Norman's eyes the moment he laid his eyes on her husband.
"Like you heard from Vel there, I'm Volkner. I've always wanted to meet and battle that legendary slaking of yours. Heard that it's a real monster to go up against."
"Likewise, I've always wanted to meet the man who trained an electivire that could injure legends," the two trainers shared a handshake and Jasmine resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her husband's childish antics when both trainers shook hands with a very strained and forced smile, their handshake a little forceful and longer than necessary. There's a very thick tension between them both from this supposed baseless rivalry and it was obvious that they were both sizing each other up in their short conversation. It may have been their first meeting with each other, but it also seemed that both trainers have already acknowledged the strength of the other thanks to the tales of their respective accomplishments.
Knowing her husband, it would just be a matter of time before he challenged Norman to a battle or vice versa once the Plasma Problem had been dealt with. She's not going to deny him his fun, but he will be insufferable to deal with until then since it's been a long time since he met another worthy foe in a competitive setting that would need him to use his full strength.
She loves him with all her heart but she swears that he can be so infuriatingly childish at times.
More and more people arrived at the meeting venue and the briefing started punctually at the agreed time. Intel was shared, plans were made and teams were drafted. She knew that things at Unova were bad, but it apparently was a lot worse than she imagined it to be when she had knowledge of what was shared in this briefing.
She knew of the existence of Ability Holders, people with unexplainable supernatural abilities of varying potency that give them "superpowers" that resemble pokemon. Her husband is one himself, even if his was a mild and easily overlooked ability that simply allows him to innately understand and converse with electric types. Such people are extremely rare to come across in the world with the exception of Unova, which was vaguely estimated to be the home of over 95 percent of the world's Ability Holder population.
She will gloss over the slew of problems and societal prejudice that came from having such a unique group of people living among the populace in one single region, but what the Unova League uncovered was that Team Plasma had discovered a method of creating artificial Ability Holders through organ theft. They would kidnap identified Ability Holders en masse, harvest their organs and implant them into their own zealotic members, and thereby create their own army of Ability Holders to recreate the miracle brought about by their founding Champion and his army of Ability Holders back in the warring era.
It's a rather worrying piece of information. The implications of the organ theft issue aside, an army of unknown size with members possessing unpredictable abilities of unknown power is definitely something that must be dealt with immediately. This is not something that any region can afford to be left unchecked.
The next pressing issue to be discussed was the revival of five mythical level pokemon through fossil revival technology. This newly revived species of pokemon had been named as genesect, a cyborg pokemon with the steel-bug dual typing whose anatomy was naturally born to excel in combat. She couldn't help but recall the events that took place in the Indigo One Day War when this piece of information was revealed, where they had to take measures to rescue Mewtwo and also found themselves facing the wrath of Kanto's Legendary Birds. Look what turned out from that.
"You can send Jas and I to where you guys think these Genesects are most likely at. We will take them."
She did not disagree with what her husband said. It's true that among the people gathered they are the best candidates to go up against the mythical level threats as they had the needed experience and skill sets. Genesect was artificially modified to have a very powerful cannon installed on its back, one powerful enough to instantly obliterate nearly any living being in the range of its blast. The only way to deal with that kind of power is to either be fast enough to evade it or to boast defensive capabilities sturdy enough to take on the worst these living fossils could dish out. She and her husband fit the bill perfectly thanks to their respective specialisations.
Genesect is speculated to be held at one of Team Plasma's strongholds that is located at Icirrus City. That will be where she and her husband will be heading to on that big day.
"I believe this is our first meeting. I'm Brycen, and on behalf of the Unova League I thank you for your assistance."
Brycen is Icirrus City's Gym Leader, a serious and dedicated man with plenty of experience under his belt. Various plans were discussed and hashed out in preparation for the big day ahead and it was agreed that Brycen would be the main person in charge spearheading the operation. He would be in charge of dealing with the army of Team Plasmas on that day together with the Unova Special Forces- also known as the USF in short- that will be assembled for this purpose. For her and Volkner, they will be largely responsible for searching and dealing with the five genesects which the Unova League believed are being currently held at that hideout. If these mythical level threats really are there, taking them down will be their responsibility.
Although if she has any choice in this matter, she'd rather that she never encounter them at all.
Pokemon and trainer list:
Volkner Tide: Ex 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, The Sun of Sunyshore, The Yellow Flash
Pokemon Team:
1. Electivire (Franky), male
2. Luxray (Simba), male
3. Jolteon (Jo), female
4. Magnezone (ISpy), genderless, deceased
5. Gallade (Myst), male
6. Rhyperior (Tec), male
7. Probopass (North), female
8. Gyarados (Puddle), male
9. Raichu (Squeaky), female
10. Pachirisu (Scrat), male
11. Heliolisk (Bask), male
12. Ampharos (Fluffy), female
13. Vikavolt (Vik), female, deceased
14. Eelektross (Whirr), male
15. Lanturn (Glowy), female, deceased
16. Rotom (Prime), genderless
17. Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless
18. Alolan Golem, (Toss), male, deceased
19. Electrode (Boomer), genderless
Jasmine Terbium: The Gym Leader of Olivine, Steel Specialist
Titles, Accolades and Achievement: Johto's Strongest Steel Specialist, Thirteen Pillar of Johto, The Iron Wall of Olivine
Pokemon Team:
1. Ampharos (Amphy), male
2. Steelix (Steely), female
3. Magnezone (Magny), genderless, deceased
4. Skarmory (Skia), female
5. Forretress (Forest), male, deceased
6. Metagross (Mety), genderless
7. Empoleon (Emy), male
8. Bronzong (Bronzy), genderless, deceased
9. Mawile (Molly), female, deceased
10. Lucario (Lucy), female
11. Excadrill (Drilly), male, deceased
12. Ferrothorn (Thorny), male, deceased
13. Klinklang (Clang), genderless
14. Bastiodon (Bobby), male
15. Aggron (Ronny), male