Thomdolt was not a very sentimental person. Unlike his forefathers, he held no real love for the old Assassins. He remembered the stories that his father had told him though. About how the Assassins had been feared throughout the ages, until word began to leak out on exactly how they killed and that they relied on poison, a method that could be avoided by using food tasters. With that as his conviction, Alexios III had come to avenge Alexios I's death, and killed everyone in the Gliscor's Nest down to the children in their mother's wombs.
Some agents had survived of course, having been on missions elsewhere, but suddenly found themselves lost of purpose, or otherwise went for revenge by killing any Gym Leader they could before being disposed of once their treachery was eventually discovered. One of his ancestors had been smarter and continued playing his role as a house servant through the ages.
Thomdolt's father had been keen to see the Assassins restored, and hoped that Thomdolt would one day accomplish such. Thomdolt, though didn't have much desire for restoring them. True, he had gotten his power through their methods, but he didn't share his father's zeal. He was, he reasoned, his own man now, and could make his decisions without feeling burdened by his father's wishes.
Among them was the idea to rekindle the Assassins, something that Thomdolt knew he was not going to do. The Assassins had no place in this new Galea- a Galea in which peace was supposed to last for an eternity under the guidance of the eight Gym Leaders, and their resurgence would only serve to destabilize his rule. The secret of the Assassin's legendary venom would remain with him. He had even refused to sell it to Selena, who had offered an obscene amount of riches for it. He had refused repeatedly, smug that he had an advantage that she didn't.
He had also made no attempt to continue his lineage. He saw no need to, despite his father stressing the importance of it, since he was immortal so long as he held on to the Hemlock Badge, and the secrets of the Assassins would rest safe with him forever. He did not need an heir as his father had repeatedly stressed on his deathbed. It had been different in earlier times, Thomdolt reasoned to himself.
After all, the average reign of a Gym Leader in Galea all together was about two years before someone else overthrew them. Lady Falmouth had been an exception at having lasted eighteen years. The current Gym Leader's record of lasting thirty-two years was an astounding feat, something only possible due to their coordination and control which prevented new challengers from appearing.
As such, what was the point of having heirs? It would first of all involve finding a wife- and he couldn't imagine sharing his power with another person, and no doubt a wife would prove meddlesome in the his governance of the realm. Not to mention it would be even worse if he had several heirs who would bicker over their rights and inheritance, and in the end they would never inherit as he would endure forever and he would simply watch them grow old and die.
That was probably why none of the others had married or had children either. What was the point when one's rule was to last forever?
He was snapped out of his reverie by one of his higher officers interrupting him and asking him to look over a form.
With the sea route now out of question, Thomdolt now had to organize his goods to be delivered by land, which was turning into a painstakingly complex practice requiring his supervision in person of the caravans as they set out on their routes. With the sea, he only had to worry about Wade, but with the land, he was going into multiple other Gym Leader's territories, and of course, they all wanted to take this opportunity to take taxes on whatever he was carrying. There was even a chance, Thomdolt knew, that they might just outright seize his goods. And then there was the matter of who would drive the caravans, which Pokemon they would carry, and an endless stream of other matters that made his head hurt.
This had not been a problem with Wade, as they had known their dependence on each other, and Thomdolt even sort of had a bond of trust with him, though that was now broken. Thomdolt, like most of the others, thought Wade responsible for bringing Ash Ketchum to Galea.
His highest officers were usually those who had been marginalized by Lady Falmouth earlier or fellow servants whom he had known well, and Thomdolt had not tried very hard to quash rumors about how he had gotten his Gym Badge.
"Sir," one of them said, a middle-aged man named Yan. Unlike Marley, Freyja, or Selena, Thomdolt did not think it was prudent to place all of your faith into a single right-hand man. He kept two for this purpose, the other a woman named Tethera, who was currently near the border where this new Ash's domain was, scouting for information on his whereabouts. "Tethera has not reported any activity. It does not appear that the first Gym Leader is trying to come to us via the skies. As for the other areas, we have received no report."
"I doubt he will try to come through any route like that," Thomdolt said. "Most likely he will try to come through the passage leading to the Gliscor's Nest. I'm certain he will come across reference to it soon enough."
"Then… then shouldn't we try and stop him?" Yan asked.
"I already have measures in place if he tries that," Thomdolt said. "I've laid various traps within the Gliscor's Nests, spears dipped in my special venom, containers releasing venomous gas, and other works."
Yan looked confused. "You mean to kill him? Does not the Accord forbid such?"
"If it is possible, well, the Accord only forbids us explicitly killing one another so I can't exactly order his food poisoned, but if I were to leave a trap for him and he just happened to, by chance trigger it and die, well then that wouldn't be something I planned, would it not technically be not my fault?" Thomdolt said, "I do not see why it wouldn't be possible for a trap to kill him… though it occurs to me that while the Badges cannot neutralize the venom, they would stop the spear itself and the poison wouldn't enter his bloodstream. And I am uncertain if the venom will even work if inhaled... I have only ever heard of it working when ingested. Then again, his Badge will be weaker in my domain…." He then cocked his head. "Then again, it will still retain quite a bit of power." He shrugged. "Truth be told, I don't know if it can- or will kill him or not. If it does, fine, and if it doesn't, it would at the very least it might take out some of his followers. He will not be able to best me at battling, not with the Hemlock Badge's power and its special rule."
"You are certain of defeating him, master?"
Yan trembled under the gaze that Thomdolt gave him. "Like the rest of the continent, do you truly believe I am incapable of battling? That like that sloth Marley, I would cower and hide and run from this Ash so that he cannot challenge me?" He shook his head. "No, if he does manage to survive the Gliscor's Nest, I will be waiting here, ready for him with my Pokemon, and he will be defeated."
"So… you don't want any patrols set out? Or any soldiers ready to intercept him?"
"Put patrols in place. I want to know where he's moving," Thomdolt said. "As for soldiers, no, though we should make sure that he doesn't start burning his way through town or harming our factories with widespread looting."
Yan scurried off, leaving Thomdolt alone with his thoughts. It occurred to the Gym Leader that there was a possibility- though extremely slim in his opinion- that he could be defeated. A child who would avenge him might have been nice to have now that the situation had changed... and he suddenly felt as if he had missed on something big his entire life. To top it off, Thomdolt's father had been the only person whom Thomdolt had truly ever cared about, and Thomdolt knew that by not having an heir, one of his father's dying wishes would be left unfulfilled. Thinking about that just depressed him.
He finally decided to snap out of it and bury his feelings as he concentrated on his work.
The entrance to the tunnel was in a remote area in the woods. Ash and Mr. Jennings had left for it discreetly, as Mr. Jennings didn't want to publicize the fact that Ash was going to be absent.
"Well, you see, the Badge is necessary as its presence helps build a sense of law and order, and if the people were to learn that you were absent, and with the food shortages around…. well, I'm not exactly sure what would happen, though anarchy and rebellion usually ensue if a Gym Leader is absent for too long," Mr. Jennings said.
"Yeah, but I'm not like them, right?" Ash asked. He of course, had a mentality that defined himself as one of the 'good guys' and rather straightforwardly thought that such a thing would be a problem that only someone like Marley would have.
"Sir, no matter how bad Marley's government was, it did have something good about it- stability- the most underrated of government virtues," Mr. Jennings said. "Political turmoil is as old as the Badges themselves in Galea, sir, and to have thirty-two years of the same ruler is an anomaly not commonly found. Most of the people are just aware that Marley has recently been overthrown, and while the changes we've enacted have been well met, our other measures in trying to avoid a famine for example, by limiting rations, aren't so popular. All many of them would really understand is that suddenly there's a lot less food, and just when there has been a regime change."
Ash paused to glance at Pikachu, who seemed to be pretty happy. Though they were walking in a part of the woods with no well known trail, it was not much different from Ash's earlier adventures when he wandered around with Brock, Misty, May, Dawn, Iris, Tracy, Selena, and Cheren. Thinking of them brought back a strong wave of nostalgia.
"And, not all of them have such good intentions," Mr. Jennings continued. "As with any feudal system, sir, there are always the unruly group of nobles ready to seize power. One can't blame them though, for power is almost everything in Galea sir, and who would not want it when a time comes when it can be used to protect one's family and friends?"
"Do you have any family?" Ash asked.
"Only a granddaughter," Mr. Jennings said with a smile. What he didn't mention was that she was currently residing with a nanny since he had been far too busy with his duties under Marley to take care of her- and even more busy with all the chaos that had come with Sir Ash; because he knew that the last thing the boy needed was yet another thing to worry about. Perhaps, when he would finally retire (he couldn't in good conscious do it now) and leave the running of the realm to other people, then they could spend some time together.
They finally reached their destination, what was a small nondescript hole jutting out of the natural rocky wall that blocked their view from Thomdolt's domain. Somewhere, behind that, was Thomdolt, preparing to receive Sir Ash's assault somehow.
The others, including Gulliver and his team, along with the crew of Pokemon they had assembled to assist in navigating and digging through the passageway if necessary that included a Dugtrio, a Zubat, and a Nincada; arrived later in other small groups to further reduce suspicion. The digging team may not have been the best that could have been formed, but it was the best that could be found with their limited supply of Pokemon.
"Now, I'll want to accompany all of you until the border between the two Domains," Mr. Jennings said. "I do believe Sir Gulliver here and his, ah, associates- will want to join you all the way. After you leave the Gliscor's Nest, there is a narrow passage that will take you below into the field below. After that, there should be a stream that I would suggest you take."
"I brought a bunch of Wailmers for us to ride on!" one of Gulliver's team said. "They're not very strong in battle, or swift swimmers, but the current'll take us where we want to go."
"It would be better than going by land," Mr. Jennings said, "though you should get off before you end up running into a barricade."
They entered the cave, with the Nincada using Flash to give out light. Nothing very interesting happened except for one time when they accidentally disturbed a colony of resting Zubats and all of them flew out of the cave.
Suddenly, Ash felt the Irresolute Badge vibrate and Ash stopped as if there was an invisible wall in front of him. He had once seen a documentary about Mightyena and how they marked their territory, and had seen how a Mightyena had stopped when it sniffed that it was in a place marked by another herd. It had looked about the place as if it had suddenly run into a fence.
Ash felt like that Mightyena. It felt as if a whole new planet awaited him a few paces away. Ash took a deep breath and stepped forward.
"We've crossed the border," Mr. Jennings muttered.
Ash suddenly felt dizzy. Something about this place just felt plain wrong. Though there was no change in the cave, it suddenly felt much more oppressive. The soil beneath his feet fell different.
I'm on foreign soil now, Ash thought. This soil has a different master, and it doesn't answer to me.
As a matter of fact, the very air that he was breathing felt weird, because it listened to someone else. He glanced behind him… yes, behind him, that was where he should be, that was where he would be safe, back in his own territory.
He had almost taken two steps back when Pikachu pulled on his collar and he paused, remembering why he had come there.
While the Gym Badge did not want to leave its territory and did not want to be taken out of it, and was probably what was causing Ash to feel all of those things, but it was at the same time subservient to its master's will.
With a bit of effort, Ash turned around and walked ten paces. The overwhelming desire to run back dissipated, but he still felt vulnerable and incomplete, as if he was a Spoink who had lost its pearl.
Ash remembered that Mr. Jennings had told him that the Gym Leaders rarely left their territories. Now he understood why.
"Um, well, I wish you the best of luck, Sir Ash," Mr. Jennings said. He stepped forward. "And-"
Whatever he was going to say was cut off as there was a sudden swoosh! as a trap had been triggered and a spear came out of a wall, embedding itself where Mr. Jennings' head had been.
Thankfully, the Dugtrio had not been idle and pulled Mr. Jennings below the ground, so it merely nicked his forehead.
Ash took a moment to see the spear, and saw that there was something dripping from its tip.
"Poison," Ash muttered, not sure how he knew it. Behind him, Mr. Jennings' wound was festering. "Heal!" Ash shouted, gripping his Badge tightly. The wound began to close, but the poison was still there. The Badge was useless against that kind of poison!
The Zubat they had brought along went and bit the wound, lapping up the blood. Ash was about to stop it, when he realized that it was sucking the venom out.
After a tense five minutes, it appeared that Mr. Jennings would be fine, but he had fallen unconscious and wasn't waking up.
"Second shock in a few weeks," Gulliver muttered. "He's strong, but 'e can only take so much."
He was carried away by the others where Ash hoped that he would recover.
"Do you still want to press on?" Gulliver asked. "There could be more traps."
Ash put a hand on a wall and another one on the Irresolute Badge. He then felt the walls of the cavern itself, which were foreign to the Badge, but the Badge had considerable power even in this place, and he could see several flaws where there were arrows or levers and other machinations. He intended to exploit those flaws.
"Yes," Ash said. "We go on."
A/N: Julie Togepi, I might consider that with Mr. Jennings, provided he survives. As for Misty, I'm still not sure as to who else I should bring along. It won't be during this arc, of course, but I do want to add someone else.
Also, that bit about Mightyena kind of compares them to wolves. I don't think that's ever been mentioned that Mightyena mark their territory like dogs or wolves, but I thought it would be a close comparison given that they do travel in herds and seem like wolves (more like hyenas, but I thought close enough).
Thanks for reading up till now, and do review if you liked!
