A/N: Thanks for your reviews, Mew29240, JayFan67, and Julie Togepi.

To answer your questions, thanks, because I wasn't sure if the hidden Roserade was believable enough. I mean the main thing was that while I built it up to make it look like Ash might lose, I mean, this is a fanfic, and I know deep down everyone knows that this would kind of be a lame story if it ended up right there. It is kind of like watching a superhero movie when they show the main character in mortal danger in like fifteen minutes... and you know that it isn't going to end because there's still an hour of movie left.

Battling for six hours is tough, but I took that from the Pokemon Special manga where it was mentioned that Professor Oak fought Agatha for what I think were five, six, or eight hours (I honestly don't remember which) for the title of Pokemon League Champion. I just wanted to point out how weak Freyja's Pokemon were. And yes, Selena is very cold. Once again, there's history to look back on when you see how bad sieges and starving out the enemy could go. But we'll go into more about Selena in her own arc.

Surprisingly, Duke Hamnet found that not much had changed.

Whenever there was a regime change, there was usually a crisis that followed involving purging of various rebellious elements, the execution of several dozen people or so, and a mass spectacle of the defeated Gym Leader being executed in a highly elaborate way, usually involving Rapidash.

None of that had followed.

Honestly, support for Lady Freyja was so low as to be nonexistent, almost everyone had been allowed to keep their jobs, and Freyja was currently being confined, being of no threat anymore. Celera, meanwhile, had withdrawn to 'take care of some things,' and Sir Ash had done nothing to stop her, letting her roam the region as she pleased.

That said, Sir Ash didn't have much time for governance, so most of the important work fell on Duke Hamnet's shoulders- in other words, this part was also pretty much left unchanged from Freyja's regime, except that he and his staff no longer had to wear funny costumes.

However, Duke Hamnet had been slightly raised in position, taking over duties that used to belong to Mr. Jennings, though the old man had refused to step down completely, partly, Duke Hament felt, because Mr. Jennings didn't trust him.

Currently, Hamnet was in a meeting with Ash, and Mr. Jennings was also present via a telephone.

"So, the most important thing right now, Milord, is the food supply," Hamnet said. "While our areas are currently well-fed rather nicely and will survive, and it seems that Marley's earlier realm is also doing fine, Thomdolt's previous domain is going to run out of grain soon since its ecosystem was completely destroyed. We are going to need to so something drastic if we don't want a famine on our hands in the coming months."

"So, Linnea still won't trade with us?" Ash asked.

"No, we don't produce anything of particular import that she would need immediately," Hamnet said.

"And do you have stockpiles of food?" Ash asked.

"We do, but Lady Freyja didn't consider it necessary to keep a very large stockpile," Hamnet said. "You see, most of our people are comfortable living off the land and tending the herds so we were not very dependent on external sources of grain anyway. Not to mention our population is not very large, so what reserves we have might only last a few weeks rather than a few months for a larger region like Thomdolt's. It appears that your people miscalculated several things when projecting how long the food would last before."

Mr. Jennings puffed up. "We didn't have the use of our computers then, and we've barely had time to calibrate Thomdolt's records and assimilate them into our own."

"Regardless point is, we don't have enough food," Duke Hamnet said.

"As such, in a roundabout way, we all reach the same conclusion," Mr. Jennings said. "We have to press forward with our campaign. Now, we currently border territories of both the Sixth and Fourth Gym Leader, the first to the Northeast and the other to the Northwest. We could press onwards towards either of them, or turn and try to strike at Wade's domain, though I would advise against that as it seems, for now, that Wade might be a potential ally."

"He hasn't said anything though," Ash said. Ash was honestly getting quite fed up of the Fifth Gym Leader. He was refusing to take up Ash's calls, and the messengers that they sent were always turned away empty-handed. If he was an ally, he was doing a rather terrible job of showing it.

"Regardless, we don't have many ships," Mr. Jennings said. "And though we might get food from Wade's domain, it would be seafood which isn't the staple diet of most of our people. And we do not know much about Wade's whereabouts, and he could hide almost endlessly in the vast sea."

The last bit was exceptionally true, as Wade's domain was, in terms of area, the largest of all the Gym Leader's, though most of it was water.

"The Sixth Gym Leader, Vanessa, has a domain almost as large as Linnea's, but it largely either desert or tundra," Mr. Jennings said. "So that leaves targeting Linnea as the most logical choice."

Ash then checked the map of Galea they had on a table. He was able to tell easily that Linnea's territory was, in terms of area, larger than all of his combined. Not to mention much more populated by both Pokemon and people.

"What's her special rule?" Ash asked.

"Ah, allow me," Duke Hamnet said. "You see, the Fourth Gym Badge, the Tempo Badge, symbolizes the region's connection not only to the fertility of the soil, but also to the ancient songs passed through the region and the control of the Gym Leader over the land by singing the song of the earth, thereby easing how crops are grown."

"You didn't answer my question," Ash said pointedly.

"Ah, apologies," Duke Hament said. "Lady Freyja usually liked a bit of exposition. Linnea, on account of the musical connections of the Badge, is allowed to use an octet to face a challenger."

Ash just stared at Hamnet blankly.

"An octet means eight," Mr. Jennings said. "So she can use eight Pokemon in battle instead of the usual six her opponent is restricted too. And she is a very proficient battler, unlike those you have faced, and so are her Gym Trainers. I do not have much information regarding her Pokemon, but I do believe it was said that she used a Liligant as one."

Duke Hamnet nodded. "She would be formidable enough of an opponent, sir, even without her added advantage of numerical superiority."

"I've been training," Ash said. "And I think it'd be fine to face someone who is just strong but otherwise normal and isn't looking for some wacky method that borders on cheating. Eight Pokemon isn't that much more than six."

"Well, then, both Wade and Linnea are known to be experienced battlers," Duke Hamnet said.

"Yes, but even one could make the difference between victory and defeat. I would also suggest that we could maybe strip some of the mountain ranges of their forest and begin cultivation there," Mr. Jennings said.

"Uh, I would advise against that," Duke Hamnet said. "That would destroy a lot of our important forest cover and habitats for our Pokemon, not to mention it would hardly help in the crisis. Also, very few people would want to relocate to the mountainsides for farming."

"Okay, don't tear down the forests or anything," Ash said. "Have you guys figured out where the Roserade came from? Or where the calls are coming from?"

Ash had managed to get his Pokemon back when the Storage System was back up, which was 'surprisingly' only minutes after he had defeated Freyja, and had as such currently swapped out his Grimer for Mr. Jenning's Arcanine.

As a training exercise, Ash had his Pokemon battle each other.

All five of them together weren't able to defeat Roserade. She was not just extraordinarily powerful, but it was obvious by the way that it battled that she also had lots of battle experience. She was capable of moving and fighting on her own, though she didn't disobey Ash if he gave her an order, however, Ash noticed that she seemed to already move before the order was given and seemed to be able to predict what Ash was going to say. Whoever had trained her had probably made it so that she could fight on her own.

His other Pokemon started to mimic this which might have turned out useful later on. Ash had even thought that she might have been Gregor's lost sixth Pokemon he had heard of, but she didn't seem that powerful so that theory went mostly out the window.

Regardless, it was clear that a Pokemon that strong was probably from another Gym Leader or a Trainer of that level.

It scared him slightly because it meant that someone, somewhere in Galea, had a Pokemon like that and was apparently able to give it away; meaning that it was probably not their own strongest one.

As such, Ash had spent large amounts of time training. He had also begun using equipped items, like Quick Claws and the like. He couldn't help but think that if his Pokemon had been just a little bit stronger, he could have lasted longer against Freyja and she would've lost due to her Pokemon getting fatigued anyway. He didn't want to leave anything to chance now.

The end result of this was that Fearow and Arcanine were now capable of fighting Roserade one-on-one and each ended up getting a draw only thanks to the type advantages. Otherwise, Ash needed two Pokemon to defeat her.

"We haven't had any leads on that," Duke Hament said. "A Roserade could have been caught as a Roselia or a Budew, and neither of them are particularly rare. Marley's earlier domain also had a few, and so did our territory at one time. I'm no expert, but I wouldn't consider it beyond the realm of possibility for Linnea or Vanessa to be able to get one, or for one to be traded across the Gym Leaders, something that did happen occasionally."

"But, a Roserade would need a Shiny Stone to evolve," Mr. Jennings said. "Thankfully, there are not that many in Galea. A few of them were mined earlier by Marley, and a few in the mountain ranges. I've gone through records of various sales and I don't see one having been sold, and once again sadly we can't discount the fact that there could have been one in another place, or found beneath the ocean."

Ash nodded. "And Roserade doesn't have any special markings or anything either."

"No. Disregarding that," Duke Hamnet said, "I would like to propose a plan of attack. Up till now, Sir Ash, you have been invading the other Gym Leader's territories in small groups, finding them, and then challenging them to battle. This no doubt has some benefits, but I would suggest that rather than that this time, we take a small army and lay siege to the city of Aroughs in Linnea's territory that lies very close to our border. It houses a very large supply of grain, and could feed our realms for quite some time, and would help us establish a base from where we could gather intelligence for further strikes."

"Lay siege?" Ash asked. "As in, we'll try to take the city before getting the Gym Badge? Isn't that… um, illegal?"

Duke Hamnet and Mr. Jennings stared at Ash blankly for a very long time, as if unsure how to proceed. Finally, Duke Hamnet decided to try, "It appears that Milord is rather honorable in his dealings, but I would point out that this is war after all. When an opportunity arises to take your enemy's resources, one generally seizes the opportunity with all haste. Not to mention it will technically be all yours once you defeat Linnea."

"I would also point out that this is how war was done earlier," Mr. Jennings said. "Two Gym Leaders would usually gather large armies and engage in battles as one of them would invade the other's territory."

"But, isn't that a waste of time?" Ash asked. "I mean, everything does come down to two people fighting in a Gym Battle, right? So why bother gathering an army anyway?"

"Ah, yes," Mr. Jennings said. "But I believe you are, ah, forgetting that the challenger must face the Gym Leader with a handicap: the other Gym Leader's special rule. By destroying large tracts of an opponent's property by looting, burning, and slaughtering the enemy population, a Gym Leader could force his rival to challenge him, thereby giving him a huge advantage. On the other hand, if he had directly engaged his opponent, he would be the one forced to play against a special rule."

"But I have to challenge her anyway," Ash said. "So what's the point?"

"Several things," Duke Hamnet said. "As I a gather it, Milord would like to try and train before confronting Linnea, and with a base inside her realm we would be able to train in greater ease and against the wide variety of Pokemon present in her realm, possibly against several trainers that she had trained first to get an idea of what battling her would be like, as opposed to simply going to battle her directly. Furthermore, the grain supplies would help alleviate our problems for the time being and quell any rumors going on that there will be a famine soon."

"But that's not just it," Ash said. "Won't it take time for the siege to happen? And won't people… well, be killed during it?" Those were the main two things that appealed to Ash about going in alone, or at least, with only a small group of people. He wouldn't have to worry about organizing a large group, and it kept the innocent people in Galea, who had nothing to do with the Gym Leader's rule out of stuff until it was over. Though he had to admit that the last thing wasn't true with Thomdolt, in which case there had been extensive damage to the land and to various people who had been forced to flee their homes due to pollution or simply fear of the invaders.

"I doubt it," Duke Hament said. "We have an advantage there. No one can challenge you, Sir Ash, to a battle according to the Accord, so Linnea can't do anything against you. She wouldn't have let many people keep Pokemon anyway, and more likely than not I believe that Aroughs will simply surrender rather than risk a fight. As such, if you'll give me the permission, I will personally organize and lead the campaign."

It wasn't very convincing to Ash, not to mention there was also the fact that Duke Hamnet seemed to be getting far too excited about this, perhaps for reasons of personal glory or maybe just sitting on the sidelines bored him.

A/N: That's it for now. Thanks for reading, and do please review if you liked!