Pre-chapter A/N; Since everyone is asking for one of these, here's a breakdown of the character names before we get into things
Broly - Kleavor
Quicksilver - Pidgeot (dead)
Kisame - Milotic
Igneel - Charizard
Kenpachi - Tyranitar
Ino - Gardevoir
Snorlax - Snorlax
Tsunade - Clefable
Gai - Hakomo-o
Magnezone - Magnezone
Hashirama- Trevenant
Special thanks to the folks on pa-atreon for making this possible. Now without further ado let's get into it.
I turned to the television again and saw them showing some highlights from the younger Oak's defence of Cinnabar.
Yes, you heard us right, viewers. Young Donnell Oak commands a team of 10 pokemon. Our investigations have revealed that his team was extended this way by virtue of his position as a lab trainer under his own father's employ. I won't make any insinuations here, because I trust you to make them on your own. 10 pokemon when most of us are forced to move with teams of six. Can't deny that the League's illusion of fairness is getting less and less believable.
But enough about that though, let's focus on the identity of those pokemon. Two of them are simply unidentifiable. We've spoken to experts across the regions, and all they've been able to do is theorise the typing of the pokemon. The Rock-type, the one with the brown skin is suspected to be some sort of secondary evolution to Scyther, different from Scizor, making it a rock/bug type, and the one with the scales is suspected to be a cross between dragon and fighting type, but this is the most unsure. Apparently, it had the look of a dragon but didn't use enough dragon type moves for a clear decision to be made one way or the other. The fighting type is accepted as a clear conclusion, though. The rest of the team, while identifiable, is no less unique, Milotic, Charizard, Cleffable, Tyranitar, and Snorlax are some of the more rare species he can boast on his team. The other three slots taken by pokemon more common, but no less powerful for it like a Gardevoir, Trevenant and Magnezone. Now we'll be speaking to Mister Elnathan John, world renowned professional-battling commentator, about this team and what he feels the young Oak's chances are of making it all the way in this year's conference."
I turned off the television. It was good to see that our attempts to turn coverage away from the attack were working, but conversations about the League's objectivity were no less inflammatory. The attack was the priority for now, though. Team Rocket had been made public enemy number one, and granted the classification of an S-rank terrorist organisation, meaning that any rockets caught were to be killed on sight. If that wasn't going to hamper their recruitment efforts, then I wouldn't know what would.
"Lance, they're ready for you" was all my secretary said as she poked her head through the door. I smiled and followed her to the conference room. A meeting like this was one of the last things I wanted to be doing today, but it was practically expected, and we did need to discuss what had happened.
I arrived at the conference room, to find everyone already seated, or logged in to the call, for those who would be joining via hologram. This was a meeting between the elite four, gym leaders, league president and professor. Not a meeting, if I was being honest. I'm sure most of the people here could see through any illusions I might have added to the invitation to obscure the purpose of this gathering. This was a war council. War had come to Kanto, and these would be my generals.
The participants of the meeting were quite different from what I would have normally expected though, Bruno was still missing in action, so I'd consented to replacing him with Agatha's protege for the meantime. When he turned up again, he would have his seat waiting for him. The same rule applied to Koga, so I could see why his daughter was here in his place. What I could not understand though, was the presence of two more non-gym leaders.
"I see some people here who ought not to be, can you explain that?" I asked while taking my seat. Let's get figuring out why they were here over and done with sooner rather than later.
"Pursuant to Section 17 of the League Code of Conduct, a gym leader ought to protect the people of his town or city, and failure to do so in a material and visible way shall lead to the gym leader being queried and disciplined by the town's mayor and city council. Section 18 lists the punishment for such conduct to be anything from a fine, to being stripped of the position of gym leader entirely. Needless to say that because of their absence during the greatest threat to Kanto's people since the war, Blaine and Giovanni have been removed from their positions and temporary leaders have been appointed in their place" Donnell Oak said in a sure tone, sounding more like a bureaucrat than a trainer. At least he didn't drone on and on like one.
"We know that, boy. But that doesn't explain why you are here" Agatha said in her clearly inflammatory tone. I guess it was too much for me to expect her to behave reasonably and toss her suspicions aside in the middle of a crisis.
"Section 36 of the same code empowers the city's mayor and council to appoint interim gym leaders, and we have been appointed to fill those roles for Cinnabar and Viridian respectively" He was content to speak for his fellow, and with their similarities in age, and with how accepting she was being of him speaking for her, I was a bit curious about what else might exist between them.
"All interim leaders need to be confirmed by the champion and League President" Goodshow finally spoke up.
"No. A permanent leader, yes, but not an interim one. It might be customary for interim leaders to be placed before you for examination, but the law is clear that it is not a requirement." He replied, while leaning even further back to give the impression that this entire thing was tiring. The sigh he let out was also clearly exaggerated. I would have applauded the audacity, if I wasn't one of the people being disrespected.
"We'll return to this topic later. Now, let us have a report of the situations in each of the cities" I spoke up to prevent a debate on positions of law or something equally inane.
The first to reply was the girl from Viridian, at least she'd intuited that we followed the order of the Champion's route when everyone needed to speak. Viridian first, and then the rest.
"The city suffered damage to key infrastructure like the clinic, and the police station, however the loss of life was kept to acceptable levels, with only 341 fatal casualties. There were over 400 wounded, but the hospital remains up and running, and while some of its facilities have been converted for pokemon care in the absence of the clinic, it has proven capable of handling the influx of wounded. Altogether, the attack was limited and concentrated to the industrial areas of the city. The industrial infrastructure, like the various processing mills are nearly non-existent, with how badly they were damaged, but residential areas were mostly untouched. Those who have been rendered homeless are being put up in some of the city's multiple hotels. I used my position as gym leader to requisition the hotels to solve the housing crisis until new accommodations are found. Apart from that, the city is well on its way to recovery" Her report was detailed, and gave a good view of what had happened in the city.
"I see. Thank you, miss…" I led off with my voice, asking for her name without saying as much, but she just stared at me as if waiting for me to continue. The silence dragged on, awkward as it was, and I was tempted to just move on, before she suddenly looked down at something on her computer before speaking.
"Oh. My apologies, I did not know you were asking for my name. I am Sabrina" She said and I just nodded in understanding, ready to move on.
Flint, the Pewter Gym Leader looked to be made of the stone his city was famed for producing in their quarries as he gave his report. "Pewter is gone. All the infrastructure, key or not, was ravaged in the attack. Multiple earthquakes destabilised most of the city, making even what remains highly unsafe for rehabilitation. We lost over a thousand citizens,and the casualties are still pouring in. Those who were able to make it to the shelters are alright at this time, but we need help with evacuating those same shelters. They weren't built for long term occupation, and the people won't be safe to stay within the city itself for quite a while" And that was the kind of report I'd been dreading. An entire city of Kanto had fallen to the rockets. I didn't notice how tightly I held on to the table until the bit beneath me cracked audibly. I released it, ignoring the stares, wondering how to move forward.
"Are there any cities in position to accept the people of Pewter for the meantime? Goodshow asked and I silently thanked him for helping. I'd had no idea what to do next. Of course, Donnell Oak was the first to answer the president.
"Cinnabar took a lot of damage, but the underlying infrastructure was mostly untouched. With most of the tourists leaving the city to head home, we have space for maybe a few hundred, or even a thousand people if I follow Sabrina's lead and take the hotels" He said in that measured and calm tone.
"Do it" I said. "Take all that you need. Hotels, supplies, anyone that refuses to help in a situation like this is a rocket sympathiser and will be treated as such" I continued. I could see no reason for him to be hesitant in doing what was necessary for the people's wellbeing.
"Yes sir" He said and I nodded. I looked around the faces gathered, silently asking 'who else'. It took a bit before Koga's daughter chipped in.
"Fuchsia itself was untouched in the attack" She said in an impressive approximation of Koga's flat matter of fact tone, but we could all hear the pride she tried to hide. "Things will be a bit cramped, but we can host another thousand here" I nodded at her in thanks before speaking up.
"Any remaining citizens should be sent here to the Plateau. We have an abundance of hotels sitting empty"
"Thank you so much" Flint spoke out suddenly, bowing at his waist before us all. I nodded, in recognition of his thanks and I saw both Donnell and Janine follow my lead.
"Are there any other cities with similar damage?" I asked, and when I went unanswered, I signalled for the reports to continue.
"Cerulean is in good shape. We suffered a lot of damage, but we're still standing. Only a couple hundred perished in the attack, which is low for a surprise attack from wild pokemon. Altogether, we are mostly intact, and should be back on our feet sooner rather than later. " I nodded at the report and moved on to the next.
"Thanks to the intervention of former champion Oak, much of Vermillion still stands. We made it out of the attack in relatively good shape. I am yet to receive reports from the emergency services, so I can not speak of casualty numbers or anything like that" I nodded at his words, he was still a temporary leader, so I wasn't too bothered by his incompetence in this area.
"And what is the look of things in the rest of the region?" I asked the President after all the Gym leaders had finished their reports. As we all know, all the major cities had been attacked, but they were far from the only targets of the Rockets' insanity. While wild pokemon had not been involved, Members of team rocket had laid siege to Lavender town, and they'd even thought to attack two of the Sevii islands. Elite Agatha had foiled the attack at Lavender with a team of ACE trainers while Team Rocket succeeded in their attack on Five Island. Elite Lorelei foiled the second attack, though. Lorelei couldn't resist the urge to defend herself from the looks she received and interjected in a strong voice. "We were only informed of the attack after Five Island was complete, and the village had been reduced to little more than rubble. We were able to intervene in Six Island though, and all but four of the attackers including a self-proclaimed, 'Rocket admin' were captured."
Goodshow nodded at her and continued his report. "Johto was not touched at all, and cities in that region are beginning to step up their defences in case team rocket decides to set their sites over there." Some mutters spread across the room at that part of the report. Knowing that the attack had been limited to Kanto, and that the people of Johto were not going to be helping was doing little for morale. After all, although Goodshow didn't outright say it, admitting that Johto had been informed of the attack, and then going on to mention nothing about any possible help was pretty much announcing that there would be no help coming, at least to a group like this one. Old rivalries weren't easily buried, and I could already see what little we'd been able to do to unite the regions beginning to come apart. Claire's very public statement after Surge's death where she might as well have called him weak for falling to wild pokemon hadn't gone over well, and this wasn't going to be winning the Johto Gym leaders any favours.
"And internationally?" I asked to change the topic. "We'd initially decided to keep the attacks secret from Hoenn, but the videos circulating the pokenet did so too quickly and in too high of a volume, that we had no choice to admit that. They send their condolences, and have offered to send over 200 million pokedollars worth of supplies in aid." Fuck.
The meeting ended after a few more minutes. The decision to be made on how we'd end up counterattacking would have to wait until I heard from Koga. Whatever information he managed to acquire would probably prove itself essential in our decision of how to pursue the rockets. They'd declared war with their actions, and I really hoped they were ready for what was coming next. A one-sided war wouldn't be much fun at all, would it?
XXXXXX- THE ROOKIE ACE
Another foiled attack marked the continuation of our offensive against this new Mewtwo. THe two examples of the species were like night and day when it came to power, and this one seemed intent on making sure we understood it. Apart from one initial glancing blow at the beginning that seemed to have done more to hinder than help our cause at this point. It had made it more careful, less likely to fall for feints and startingly brutal in its reprisals. It was still intent on keeping us alive and fighting for as long as possible, but I was yet to see why.
Metagross couldn't stop its teleportation, and no matter what Slaking seemed to do (when he could even be bothered to do anything), physical damage was not working. Ninjask was putting its speed to the test, zipping in and out of blindspots to attack from odd angles but even that was having very little use against its psychic shield. It was unflappable and might as well have been invincible.
James was standing next to Giovanni, just watching us with a smirk that seemed so alien on his face. He'd been a prankster, and an asshole at times, but he'd never been cruel, and as he laughed when f Mewtwo decapitated Jill's Electabuzz with a swipe of its tail, I began to grow annoyed and angry. Jill's wailing would feature in several of my nightmares, I could already tell.
'Metagross' I silently asked my partner a question by only saying his name. 'Probability of success is 4%' he said, and I nodded, understanding that my plan had little chance of working, but seeing that what we were presently doing was having even less of a chance of achieving anything useful. We were losing, and badly.
"Frank" I said in a voice barely above a whisper, and as he turned to me, I began signalling in ace sign language. Before I'd even finished signing, my plan started to come together as James translated every word I'd signed right to Giovanni. Frank looked at me, silently wondering what the fuck I was doing. He knew I wasn't an idiot, so I only nodded, telling him to trust that I knew what I was doing. The rest of the team were too devastated by James' betrayal to do much more than run through the motions, so I needed to do something to snap them out of the funk of despair Mewtwo was keen on trapping us in. I needed to score a hit. I needed to show them that this god could bleed, and from there, the rest would be up to them.
Frank nodded, and asked the rest of the team to pull back with their pokemon as I stepped forwards. Mewtwo had been content to allow us attack, not bothering to take the initiative since he appeared, and this time was no different.
"So, the Oak thinks himself enough to do what a full team of Ace trainers working in concert couldn't. Your father must be so proud. You inherited his arrogance quite well." I did my best to allow Giovanni's words wash over me, not reacting in any way. I'd heard worse on the circuit, and even worse than that in ACE training.
I spread my hands out, releasing all my pokemon in the same motion and allowing Metagross to connect me with the rest of the team.
Swampert moved into motion first, executing a minor earthquake to reorganise the floor to something suiting his needs. Meganium followed suit with a sunny day, to set the field for both her own moves, and to give Arcanine a slight boost. Salamence took to the air, moving around to ensure he had the most clear picture of the cave's airspace. He'd been a gift from one of Silph's executives, seeking to curry some favour with the champion, and while I'd despised the reasoning, he was still dead useful, and an integral method of the team. Sometimes I felt bad at not earning him, but did I truly earn any member of my team. All five of the pokemon on the field right now had been gifts from either father or people seeking to curry favour with him. The only pokemon I had that didn't fall into either of those categories was uniquely problematic and I kept him in reserve for now. He might have been the most useful choice against a psychic like Mewtwo but I was unsure who he'd end up attacking if I freed him from his ball.
Everyone moved into motion at once. Mewtwo rose a hand and blocked Meganium's solar beam with a protect, but all that did was left him open for Arcanine to crash through that same shield. He teleported out of the way, but Salamence swept down the moment he appeared with a blistering fast dragon rush. His dodge was followed up by another dodge as Swampert threatened him with a hydropump. He was moving and ducking extremely quickly to avoid all the attacks coming at him and I knew it was only a matter of time at this point.
Mewtwo managed to move out of the way of Salamence's dragon tail, but was caught in Metagross' telekinetic hold for a second, allowing Arcanine to grab it between its jaws. The dark type energy of crunch allowed him to break that psychic barrier that had kept Mewtwo safe over the battle, and even though my pokemon's neck was snapped in a display of savagery, the damage was done. James looked shocked to stupor, and Giovanni wasn't much different. In a similar, but different vein, my team was more alive than they'd been since James' betrayal. Frank's Slaking covered the space between it and Mewtwo in seconds, heating the air between them with the friction of its punches. Lily's Typhlosion was explosive as it aimed a flamethrower straight at James and Giovanni, and my team had gone apoplectic with rage. I didn't notice any of that though. Not consciously at least. I felt none of the heat, and heard none of the sounds around me. All my attention was on Arcanine's dead body.
"Mission accomplished, boss" Metagross said in my mind, and I resisted the urge to break into tears.
XXXXX- THE POKEMON HUNTER
"What the fuck was that?" I screamed at the woman as we entered the submarine and began the journey back to Kanto. We couldn't do anything in Sinnoh with what might be the entirety of the league coming to crash down on us.
"We were losing, and I did what I needed to do to ensure we survived. Need I remind you that we were facing a champion?" She sounded so disinterested, that I felt my anger grow even hotter
"I wonder if you're not the one who needs reminding of who exactly we faced. That wasn't some random trainer. That was a champion, the pinnacle of an entire pokemon league. What you've done will be disastrous" She was refusing to see sense.
"Oh calm yourself. I knew exactly what I was doing. I introduced us as representatives of Indigo, did I not? When Sinnih seeks revenge for their champion, they won't look to team rocket, they'll look to the Indigo league, and that even helps our goals of destabilising the league." I looked at her, unsure of if she was just stupid or actually insane.
"And you think war between two pokemon leagues helps any of team rocket's goals?" I asked with a sinking feeling in my gut as I was forced to begin to consider that I might have bitten off more than I could chew with these people.
"I know so. The boss had been clear with his orders. Apart from obtaining some rare pokemon, we were also to do whatever was necessary in ensuring hostile relations between the regions. We're not stupid. We know that Team Rocket doesn't have anywhere near the amount of resources to take on the entire Indigo league on its own, but after a rough war against a region of similar size? It 's going to be child's play. Besides, if this is going to help your mood, The boss is sure that Indigo will prevail in whatever hostilities break out between them and Sinnoh. He's found texts from before the sundering that show that Sinnoh has always been inferior." I felt my legs give way as I fell back into my seat.
She ignored my reaction and continued. "We'll use the war as a distraction to accomplish several key objectives, and when the war ends, we'll take a weakened League. A perfect plan if I've ever heard one"
I put my head in my hands and tried my best to swallow my desire to cry. Pokemon poaching was one thing. I'd done lots of damage, but nothing that was automatically a death sentence. Even as I got deeper into crime, I'd always known that if I ever got caught, my family would have no difficulty having me released into their custody and punishing me with a lifetime at the nursery or something. Treason was different though, and engineering war against your own country was nothing less than treason. The day Team rocket falls, the day Lance wins like he always does, I'd find myself heading straight for the hangman. A fucking dead man walking.
I got up and left the room, not bothering to reply to her words. She'd ruined my life quite soundly, and I knew that if we continued to talk, I'd do something that I might end up regretting.
The entire situation was fucked. Incredibly so. Psycho's presence in my mind prevented me from lashing out, and allowed me to settle down to think. I'd lost a lot with this stupidity, but I also stood to gain quite a bit. So what if all I had waiting for me if this failed was a short drop and a sudden stop? All that meant was that I'd have to put in all my effort to make sure it didn't come to that. I had to make sure we beat Lance. The goal was no longer as unachievable as it had once seemed though. Giovanni had a good plan. Distracting the region with a war and pouncing while they were licking their wounds wasn't a terrible idea. While it meant that the people of Kanto would look at us less favourably if word got out, but if it didn't we could easily supplant the league as the dominant force in the realm. As a rocket admin, I'd be given the power of a gym leader at the very least, and if I did well, the position of elite four couldn't be too much to ask.
XXXXXXX- Donnell Oak
"Another destroyed building?" I asked with a sigh, and the firefighter in front of me just nodded. I sighed again. Who knew being an interim gym leader would be so much stress? I guess every actual gym leader, and anyone who'd actually read the league constitution, but that was besides the point. It was way too much effort to just settle the people of Cinnabar into accommodations. Just finding everyone somewhere to sleep had been a bitch and a half to do. I'd had to have Hashirama use deep forest emergence a few times to create a few treehouses. They weren't the most stable or provisioned set of accommodations, but a roof was a roof and whatever protection they provided against the elements was preferable to just sleeping on the streets.
For the umpteenth time, I cursed Cinnabar's state as a resort city, and nothing more suitable for emergencies like these. Blaine hadn't been doing much to help it either. His gym was highly unpopular for challengers, so the city didn't even have a strong trainer culture. Trainer supply stores were sparsely stocked, and the gym amenities were nothing to write home about. In a city like Celadon, I could have just easily distributed Trainer tents, the kind large enough to support up to four occupants and just called accommodation a settled matter. Here,there was a lot more going on.
Lance had given me permission to claim whatever hotels I needed for the people's accommodation, but something about that robbed me the wrong way. It felt too much like stealing the fruits of others' work, so until the situation left me literally no other choice, I would be staying away from that route.
I glanced at my laptop, noting that Sabrina was yet to reply to my message, so I got up and followed after the man. Emergency response in Cinnabar had been ravaged in the attack. The police were gone, and the few remaining disaster relief personnel were understaffed and under equipped for something of this scale. It was a stressful hell. We travelled the distance to the building on the back of the Rapidash that had become commonplace in the city since one of the breeders lent them out for use as transportation. Walking wasn't completely safe, and sometimes, we needed to respond quickly to threats like these.
"How many people are trapped in there?" I asked as I felt a flicker, some part of me sensing that the collapsed building was not as empty as it appeared.
"What? There's no one in there" The firefighter replied in shock. "We just called you in because we wanted some help clearing out the rubble and needed you to decide what we did next since you'd wanted these areas ready for inhabitation." I nodded at his words, but still sent Broly out of his ball.
Somehow, he'd kept in touch with what had been happening even with his pokeball so he needed no orders before disappearing into the ground. I guessed he was using seismic sense to get a feel for what was beneath the crash. Another thing we had to improve on. All rock types could use some form of echolocation when they were underground, using dig. But I needed him to be able to do that on demand. Anywhere, anytime. It would level up his battling ability a bit. Now, his ability with extreme speed was limited by his need to stop and take stock of his situation, but if he could do that merely by being on the ground, he'd be near unstoppable. That was my hope, at least.
Broly resurfaced after a few seconds and looked at me for permission before he lifted his hands, lifting the entire building with his terrakinesis. I didn't get to revel in the looks of awe we received from the gathered firefighters, as I noticed that underneath the building was a large Growlithe, practically massive, curled around a little girl. Ino was out of her ball in seconds and teleported the both of them to the hospital. The firefighters looked shocked to stupor.
"Next time, make sure to be more thorough with your searching." My words might have been cold, but they needed to understand the gravity of their fuck up. While some of them looked angry, or otherwise offended, others looked shamed. Good. They should be ashamed. That kind of fuckup just couldn't be tolerated.
A/N; Fun fact; this chapter was originally 10,000 words long, but I had to split it up as a result of a pa-treon poll. So the next chapter is going to continue from this one very directly. Thanks for reading. We just started chapter 48 on the pa-atreon page. Feel free to join me there if you feel like supporting my work. Same username as up here. The link's on my profile.