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This story is an installment in the Pokemon Special/Adventures manga canon. It takes place in an alternate universe called the Legends Canon, along with all my other stories. If you enjoy this, then I recommended reading the three principal stories of the Legends Canon: Pokemon Adventures: Legends of Arceus, Pokemon Adventures: Brick Bronze, and Pokemon Adventures: Sword and Shield. This tale takes place between Brick Bronze and Sword and Shield.
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This story is dedicated to Grace. Keep up the writing!
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BEGIN
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Excerpts From The Analysis of History, by Jibb of Unova:
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Bronze Tercano's imperial reign generated more historians than any other period in history. Most of them argued a particular viewpoint, jealous and sectarian, but it says something about the impact of one man over so many lives.
Of course, he had the making of history on his shoulders, as well. A Pokedex Holder, an ideal and idealized ingredient. He defeated the Eclipse Alliance and moved the Original One to banish the Mbelekoro once again. He led the Rorian legions to victory as a military commander in the Battle of Shalour City. He wed a member of House Berlitz and became fabulously wealthy, funding research into new advancements in space travel and technology. He rose to the level of World Chairman, the highest governmental position on Earth.
Most importantly as of late, he created the Tercano Accords: a law that overthrew the false god of machine logic and replaced it with the talents of humans and Pokemon. Thinking machines and intelligent AI systems became taboo in Roria and the newly discovered region of Galar. A robot apocalypse was averted, and a new concept arose among the masses: "Thou shalt not make a machine in the likeness of the mind of man."
What brought about the conspiracy against him and the unity of the world-spanning power groups can be traced back to the fear of a world war (which did come to pass) and the destruction of the traditional status quo. Other histories say he was targeted by obvious plotters; the Aether Foundation, Team Dim Sum, and the scientific amoralists of the Exiled Rocket League with their skin-changing Ditto humanoids. More point out the spies in his household.
Several others delineate the priest cabal led by Pokedex Holder Emerald, in which certain radical elements wished to make a martyr of Bronze Tercano and place the blame on his wife, Moon Berlitz. But how can any explain the facts that history had revealed to them? They cannot. With new Pokedex Holders about to be created in Galar, the Rorian Jihad and the events that transpired before it takes on a new perspective. The summation of my analysis is thus:
In uniting the brutality of the Rorians with the military prowess of a charismatic leader, Bronze Tercano created the argument for his own disposal. That is what brought the major organizations together and ignited the Conspiracy to Assassinate the Grand Bashar.
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Altru Tower
Sometimes, the lines between gods and men blur, and no distinction can be seen.
-Chairman Bronze Tercano, private journals
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Despite the murderous nature of the plot he intended to devise, the thoughts of Virnus, the Ditto skin-changer, turned ever to pity and rueful compassion.
I shall regret causing death and misery to Bronze Tercano.
He kept this benignity carefully hidden from his fellow conspirators. Such feelings told him, though, that he found it easier to identify with the victim than with the attackers: a thing characteristic of the modified Ditto.
Virnus stood in amused silence with the others in the council room, somewhat apart from his fellow conspirators. The argument about a psychic attack as a means of assassination had been going on for some time now. It was a hopeless sort of debacle, but the conspirators held onto their respective positions with the dogma befitting members of the world's power bastions.
"When you think you've got him skewered, he'll escape!"
That was the old woman Wicke of the Aether Foundation, the Branch Chief, and one of their hosts here at Altru Tower. Blake Hall, the Altru President, replied to her in a vocal curtsey containing a sneer: a polite sort of disdainfulness. Virnus looked at the man, and saw that he was a rather elongated figure, with dark krimskell fiber glasses over brown eyes.
"If we go that way, we'll die of stupidity!"
That was the fourth person present: Ariana of the now-disbanded and defeated Team Rocket. She had grown thin in her old age, and was like a ghostly stick figure, waving a fur-lined fan across her face in the dark room. This one might be the death of us. She is too dull.
There were others, Virnus knew, but not here. They were on their own respective duties: Kincaid and the Sinistrio, the lieutenants of Blake Hall; Irvin, the disgruntled robot maker and AI designer; Orbo the Patrygeniest, a member of the fanatic Rorian priesthood on the cusp of war; embedded agents in the International Police, and, of course, Laslo, one of the few surviving and unincarcerated members of the Eclipse Alliance: a clever man who knew how to turn black to white with his words.
"Have you nothing to say for yourself, Virnus?" Ariana said.
"You wish to draw me into a fool's fight?" Virnus replied. "Very well. We are dealing with a potential messiah. You don't launch a frontal attack. Martyrdom would defeat us. No, I don't think that's the only answer to the issue, but you have my thoughts."
"Your thoughts?" Hall growled. "I still don't know what the thoughts of a fat mutated Pokemon are worth."
Virnus shrugged. He had chosen a bland, round-faced appearance for this meeting, jolly features and full lips, the body of a bloated dumpling that resembled at best a Ditto's unchanged form. He alone of the group could manipulate appearances with such ease, even turning into a variety of Pokemon. He was the chameleon, a skin-changer, and the shape he wore now invited others to judge him too lightly.
"I was enjoying the silence," Wicke said. "Our hostilities toward each other are better left unsaid. We have our own reasons for wanting the death of Bronze Tercano. I regret it, but there is too much to lose."
"I don't regret it," Ariana said. "He has it coming for him. Still, Virnus's lack of interest in the importance of what we are to do is his flaw."
Virnus knew that he had less stake in the conspiracy than others. Rumors abounded that a set of laws were to be enshrined if Bronze Tercano became the Chairman of the Pokemon Association: "thinking machines" would be banned, replaced by Rotom and Porygon in advanced computers. The Aether Foundation would be crippled. The Priesthood would lose its drive. Team Dim Sum would be annihilated by the iron fist of the Rorian armies. The scattered remnants of Team Rocket would be hunted down and slaughtered.
"I am not a 'he' by most standards," Virnus said. "I am a genetic eunuch and hermaphrodite, like all Ditto. Currently, I assume male sex characteristics, but I might be anyone you meet." She is recognizing the vital matter! Good!
"Are you one of us or not, Pokemon-thing?" Blake said, staring out of narrow eyes.
"My allegiance is not the issue," Virnus replied. "You are wondering why you had me come all this way and risk so much?"
He nodded in agreement. "All I can see is that we are bandying platitudes with a pair of old women and an obese Ditto skin-changer. I think it was a mistake for us to come here and concentrate our numbers in one easily exposed spot."
"Do you doubt the security of this place?" Wicke said.
"No, but there are certain abilities Bronze Tercano possesses that worry me."
In a tone of voice used to describe a machine, Ariana said: "We better have you, Blake. Team Dim Sum has its uses, apparently."
She sees them for what they are, Virnus thought. Good!
"The future is a thing to be shaped," he said. "Remember that, Ariana."
Wicke glanced at the Ditto. "People who share Bronze's aims and loyalties," she said. "Certain members of his Rorian legionaries, then, wear his cloak. I have seen them prophesy, heard their cries of adulation for this 'Grand Bashar.' We must make the choice that best protects us against his ideology. Bronze Tercano must die. I have fulfilled my role by now, actually."
"Oh?" Blake said. "What would that be?"
"To sever the family line. Although Bronze does not suspect it, Moon will give him no heir. I have been secretly administering a contraceptive through the Aether Foundation's agents. It'd not be an easy thing for him to discover. I have lies prepared for him if he questions me, and some lies are easier to believe than the truth."
"Ingenious!" Ariana cried. "My part is well underway. I have blinded others to our conspiracy in the Association. I also wonder if Virnus's commitment will be a real one. No trickery should be between us. Virnus, it is said that intelligent Pokemon created as the result of Team Rocket's experiments have a particular system of honor: that your victim must always have a route of escape."
"If they can but find it," Virnus said. "Blake, are you giving Tercano's enemy in the election a steady stream of information to use as propaganda against this Grand Bashar?"
"Yes, but I would rather hear more about you, Pokemon," Blake said. "What is your reasoning in fighting on our side?"
"The question I ask myself is one of powers and how they can be used," Virnus said, allowing his form to ripple. "I believe, through secular and religious deduction, that in the universe there is an insatiable appetite for matter, and that energy is the only true solid. And energy learns. Hear me well: that energy becomes power. I still haven't convinced myself that you have the power to defeat Bronze Tercano."
"We haven't even convinced ourselves," Wicke said. "Everywhere we turn, Bronze's power confronts us. He has psychic Pokemon that can be in many places at once. He is the Grand Bashar whose merest whim is an absolute command to his missionaries. He has Tessa Woodhall by his side, the Bibliographer, whose mental abilities surpass even our best computers. He is a friend of Jake Albans, the greatest Swordmaster in the history of the world. He is a Pokedex Holder whose orders to his Rorian legions could depopulate regions. He possesses a sort of foresight that can see into the future. He has superior Logarian genetics and is wedded to a crafty Berlitz-"
"We know his attributes," Blake interrupted. "And we also know that his abomination of a wife has similar characteristics. But they are humans, both of them. Thus, they have weaknesses."
"And where are these weaknesses?" Virnus said. "Shall we search for them in the religious arm of his priesthood? Can the Grand Bashar's worshippers be turned against him? And what of the civil authority of other Pokemon Association delegates? Can they do anything but raise a verbal clamor?"
"I suggest the Devon Corporation as an ally," Blake said. "Devon is business and business follows profits; I should know this. Or perhaps Bronze Tercano's friend Jake; he might be deceived into betraying his bond-brother. Our conspiracy requires a lever. Mine is to divert the attention of Tercano if he gets word of a conspiracy to the doings of Team Dim Sum."
"We are more than conspirators," Ariana countered. "We are powerful and learn quickly. This makes us the one true hope to save civilization from the barbary of the Tercano Accords that are sure to come."
"Also, another tool is possessed by us," Wicke said. "The Aether Foundations' research toward cloning has improved over the past decade. We have a thing to sabotage Bronze Tercano. It has a body and a name: Domitius Cenvus, the renowned Rorian politician and the rival of Bronze Tercano in the coming election for World Chairman of the Pokemon Association."
Virnus exercised his powers, shape flowing into shape, flesh moving and readjusting. Presently, a slender man stood before the others. The face remained somewhat round, but darker and with flattened features. High cheekbones combined with black and tame hair to create a stately visage. "A man of this appearance? Domitus would never associate with us. He is too proud."
"It's a clone," Wicke said. "A clone that we control and can use."
"Why not use Virnus and his abilities to impersonate Cenvus?" Ariana said. "Or does he have other duties?"
"Not me," Virnus said. "I risk exposure under prolonged surveillance. There was one time when I saw one of my brood brothers in the laboratory I was born in create such a particular antithesis to himself that he would rather have died than submit to the breaking of that antithesis upon discovery. A failure."
"What happened to him?" Wicke asked.
"He killed himself," Ariana growled. "In exile when creating the Ditto skin-changers, we dabbled in various pure essences: pure good and pure evil. A villain who delights only in creating pain and suffering can be quite educational. We do this with Pokemon, under the condition that we may study them. These Ditto were a successful branching of that. I hope that this clone will poison Tercano's psyche, more or less."
"And what of the priesthood?" Blake said.
"It requires only the slightest shift in emotions to turn envy into enmity," Virnus said. "The Devon Corporation will rally around profit."
"What of the other power groups?" the man continued. "The regional Champions exert significant clout."
"Our opposition will die due to its own entanglements when Tercano is killed. Another priority is to blind Tessa Woodhall from exerting her abilities as a Bibliographer. This can be done by only conducting certain parts of the conspiracy in the presence of particular Pokemon that can cloud psychic influence. We will be taught painful lessons if we fail."
"If we succeed," Blake said. "Then I'll be able to go about my business."
"I'll keep operating with computers," Wicke added. "The world will not fall into a dark age."
"Team Rocket will endure," Ariana said. "What about you, Virnus?"
"The universal balance will continue," Virnus replied. "It will mean the end of Bronze Tercano."
"And what of the Rangers?" Wicke said. "They might posit a formidable force against us if some of our plans are exposed."
"I will take care of the Rangers!" Blake sneered. "They amount to nothing."
As he spoke, Virnus saw what was arrayed for him: human beings whose simultaneous acceptance and cruelty toward Pokemon was a thing he could never relate to. Ah, well...I suppose I'll copy their Pokemon for a good joke.
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Almia, Ranger Combine Union Territory, Vientown Ranger Base
Fight in the way of Arceus the way of those who fight against you, but begin not hostilities.
-Rorian Commando axiom
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"Penalized on your first day at the school...but now an Area Ranger after two years of studying and practice in the field. Well done...Kate. I'm glad at least you've been assigned here instead of the central waste regions."
"I'm lucky I landed here on my feet," Kate said, stroking her Pachirisu that rested on her shoulder. "Professor Kincaid was so cruel! After I accidentally destroyed my Capture Slider on the first day, he was all over me! You know that I barely graduated, Barlow."
The man flexed his capable muscles. "In any case, you're here in Vientown. With your other partners in the Ranger Union, you'll be fighting the criminal scum of the world, helping repair the environmental devastation caused by the you-know-what attack years ago, and carrying out the will of the Pokemon Association. We'll be glad to have another Area Ranger in our unit."
"We?"
Barlow gestured to a figure hunching over a glowtab console in the Ranger Base's washroom, a Budew by his side. He was pale, and looked craven and weak, but Barlow seemed to carry himself about him with an air of respect. "That's Irvin. He's a brilliant AI designer, top-notch. He made Chronos, the Ranger Union's artificial intelligence construct to help us with our missions. Oh, just don't say the word 'Bronze' or 'Tercano' around him, or he won't stop whining for hours."
Irvin clacked away at a holographic keyboard. "He doesn't like the Rorian Chairman? Why not-"
"That man has a lot of enemies, kid," Barlow said. "Irvin has his own reasons. I just hope Tercano sends a handover of money and manpower to clean up Almia's environment if he gets elected. These are strange times, after all."
Kate nodded. Most of Almia was a depopulated and blasted hellhole after a magically fueled weapon from a hostile universe had detonated in the hands of a criminal organization. The southern latitudes were a harsh place to dwell, inhabited by misshapen beasts, prone to extreme temperatures, dangerous terrain, and adverse weather conditions. It had been a staggering lesson in extradimensional diplomacy to the Association and organizations worldwide.
Now, the damage was being repaired, slowly but surely. Rangers planted resilient species of grass and shrubs, and introduced modified Pokemon to the environment again. One day, Almia would be green and lush. The talk of the region becoming a prison colony surely was just anti-Association propaganda.
"I suppose it's good that we're living in such strange days, so we can do something about all the strangeness," Kate said. "We don't know what's going to happen in the world, but we'll take everything as it comes."
Irvin looked over his shoulder, and then resumed his work.
How do I tell her? Barlow thought. How can she know about the rumors from Roria, the first rumblings of war? Does she even know about the Tercano Accords? The election? This region might be in danger from a place that she would never expect. She's not ignorant, just unenlightened.
"If you want strangeness, here's your first assignment," Barlow said, thrusting a copy of the Almia Times at Kate. "Carry this to Ranger Kellyn's house in the Southern Fringe Territory. It would be the best way to get to know him."
Kate took the paper. "You have another crew member here? Why didn't he come?"
"He does what he pleases. Make sure the paper doesn't get torn and dirty! It's for your own good." Barlow looked out the window into the southern depression, grey against a barricade of trees to keep the decay back. "Kellyn is our best Ranger yet. Ever heard of a Battonage Slider?"
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Anthien City, Roria
The tapestry of the universe is vast and complex, with infinite patterns. While threads of tragedy may form the primary weave, humanity with its undaunted optimism still manages to embroider small designs of happiness and love.
-Bronze Tercano, private journals
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Bronze Tercano stepped up to the podium, doing without an oxygen mask in the thin air. The flying city regularly reached an elevation of ten thousand feet, higher than many mountains. He felt dizzy, yes, but the cheers from his loyal supporters buffeted him like the winds of a cleansing storm.
There is only one faction in Roria. My faction.
His wife, Moon Berlitz, had managed the logistics of the rally along with Tessa Woodhall, his friend with a mind that could perform calculations as fast as any computer. She was living proof that thinking machines were not needed. The mind of Man and Pokemon could not be replaced.
Bronze's marriage to a member of House Berlitz opened new opportunities for him, economically and politically. It was decided over several decades by representatives from both House Tercano and Berlitz, but it turned out that the arrangement was a rare optimal mix of romance, politics, and acceptable bloodlines. Both Moon and Bronze were Pokedex Holders to boot.
Orbo the Patrygeniest, a pretentious little bald man, announced Bronze's arrival in a booming voice that spurred the thousands assembled below into an overwhelming and ecstatic cheer. The priesthood had been formed without Bronze's consent by the order of Pokedex Holder Emerald, but they provided a massive intelligentsia that rooted out dangerous opposition in Roria.
"Thank you for your time, my friends," Bronze said, dredging up strength from the deepest corners of his heart. "I am confident that I will ascend to the position of World Chairman in the coming election with your support, and continue the necessary work of restoring traditional moral values in this region and all other regions. But there is a more important thing that you likely will agree with me on."
Bronze continued. "We allow machines in our cities and homes. We have them take care of our injured, infirm, and Pokemon. This is perfectly fine for the benefit of civilization, evidenced by this city itself. Without machines, we would not be here today. My prosthetic flowmetal foot allows me to walk. Nanites heal Pokemon from injuries sustained in battle in a matter of seconds. Humans and machines need each other to survive.
"But there is another thing that I worry about. Through the use of extensive prediction by Psychic-type Pokemon and heavy calculations using the thinking machines themselves, at the rate that artificial intelligence technology is progressing, the world will be under the control of an AI in fifty years! This enslavement of humanity will not happen overnight, but after a succession of bad decisions. People are placing too much trust in thinking machines!"
Bronze pointed to Tess in his entourage. "Tessa Woodhall has come with me to Anthien from Rosecove City! She and her students have proved that we don't need AI. Yes, esteemed citizens. By careful application of our efforts, through practice and mental exercise, certain candidates have the ability to order their minds in the proper way. They can complete calculations and make detailed second and third-order projections. A fully trained and qualified Bibliographer can perform the functions of a computer. Many of my graduates have already entered into service with companies wishing to get rid of AI."
"Furthermore, Rotom and Porygon, which we trust as Pokemon and bond-brothers in Roria, can also control and maintain computers to a degree that even an AI could not! Truly, the mind of Man and Pokemon-kind is holy! The purpose of getting rid of thinking machines is to maximize human potential and get rid of both the dangers of an oppressive AI-state, but also destroy the slothful machine mindset. We have no need for artificial intelligence!"
"We must negate the machines-that-think!" Bronze shouted. "Humans and Pokemon must set their own guidelines. This is not something machines can do. Reasoning depends upon programming, not on hardware, and we are the ultimate program! The Tercano Accords that I propose are a 'dump program.' We dump the things which destroy us as humans! Man may not be replaced by machines!"
The crowd went into a frenzy. "Death to the thinking machines! Long live the Grand Bashar! We must destroy our enemies!"
Bronze did sincerely believe what he was saying, but he felt as though a godhead was being put on him: a deification that he never wanted. He would have to make sure that these people did not unleash their fury on innocent people in other regions in their antitechnology jihad.
A gruff voice called out, booming over the crowd with a vocal amplifier. "So, will you barbarians destroy everything? Would you have us go back to the Stone Age?"
All eyes turned to the crowd's fringes, and Bronze frowned in disgust. With his dark hair and krimskell-fiber glasses, Altru President Blake Hall was quite distinctive, even in a hologram. The ambitious businessman, along with the fledgling Macro Cosmos that he had a share in, was willing to use any technology to make a profit.
Blake sniffed. "You would have us discard our medical advances? Our Poke Balls? All the hallmarks of civilization? You are ignorant, Bronze Tercano!"
Bronze raised his hand to stifle the angry crowd. This was a perfect moment to stand up to his opposition. "I have already said that I believe that technology, like people and Pokemon, can be both good and bad. I have supported an educated populace and a collegial atmosphere, bringing to fruition countless projects that use science and exotic extra-universal technologies for the benefit of all. My grievance is with thinking machines. Don't you know not to use them? You are playing with fire."
"And you would have us undiscover fire!" Blake sarcastically called.
"Not at all. You, however, seem to have an aversion to appearing in person. Can you give a reason for that? Is it because you know that with a word, I can send tens of thousands of my followers to Almia and command them to smash every bit of technology down to the smallest pocket watch?"
A nervous susurration passed through the crowd and Bronze's entourage. He acknowledges his power, Moon thought. He has never done this before.
"I will not be bullied by a primitive thug," Blake roared. "Even if he threatens to attack me with a mob of uneducated fools!"
The crowd went mad with fury, striking Blake's holographic form with their fists, or even wild attacks from their Pokemon. "Please, this is nonsense!" Bronze pleaded. "He has only a specious argument. We can still discuss-"
Blake's image disappeared. A Seviper had found the holoprojector and skewered it with its fangs.
The rush and rumble of the crowd's footsteps stilled. Bronze called for a point of order. "I am disappointed that you resorted to such brute tactics. Have I not said that those who use raw power make themselves vulnerable to those with greater powers?"
But the crowd did not listen. "Hail the Grand Bashar! Death to the thinking machines!"
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Bronze was hurried away by his attendants, while Orbo continued the address, ordered to quell a possible riot. Moon and six advisors met him back in his personal shuttle, and he felt his sense of stability returning. She was a perfect bastion of order, helping to run the various components of his campaign, both public and private, in a well-choreographed dance.
She was a striking woman, beautiful and intense, with prominent Hisuian features, pale skin, and brunette hair that she kept in braids behind her head. Bronze was never the romantic, but he appreciated the companionship, and liked how that Moon would never waste his time. She sorted out only the important things to discuss.
"You are becoming more radical, husband," she said. "Is this power getting to your head?"
"The crowds are becoming more radical, Moon. The people in Galar also hate thinking machines. I have made many enemies, but the Rorian people will prevail. We will save humanity from the threats that encroach around it!"
"I am worried about Orbo," Moon said. "I think he holds undue sway in your administration."
"Orbo will be dealt with. I, rather, am more worried about the spies in my own household. Platinum's baby is still coming to term, I reckon?"
"She is doing fine. Little Wilhem will be born within the month. Oh, you know how Hisuian births are...rare, safe, never producing twins. You'll have a nephew to mentor, if you can make the time."
"If. My family must take a back seat to other pressing concerns. The Rorian people must not become an unruly mob under my leadership. I hear rumors of a Jihad about to occur, a holy war in my name! This cannot be allowed. Diplomacy and a fair election must be maintained."
"We will have to do our best."
"Our best might not work."