The light from the sun shone down upon the nameless island that the ship had recently docked at. The sea breeze blew and wingulls flew in circles above in the blue cloudless sky. Walking on the white sandy beach was a young girl, holding her shoes in one hand as she walked barefooted in the fine white sands, softly humming a tune with a slight skip in her steps.
She's not alone. Accompanying her are an espeon, a flying pachirisu that never seemed to keep still, and a few others that she owned. Sebastian could understand why they are in such a good mood because he's inclined to think the same too. Being stuck on the ship on the sea for so long would make anyone feel a little suffocated. The ship's passengers had all disembarked from the ship like birds being released from their cages the moment they were allowed to disembark.
This island is the pitstop that the ships ferrying their countrymen back to Hoenn would dock and stay at for the next three days in order to refuel and resupply. The vice-captain had filled them in a little about this island. It's a nameless island that does not have an official name beyond being known as I-164 by the PWL. Going by technicalities, it's an island not belonging to any region's territory.
On this island you could find military naval bases from all regions, each built and located on a separate demarcated corner of the island which the PWL members jointly share. Each region is responsible for the area of the island marked out to them respectively and no other region can interfere with what's going on in another region's area on this island.
I-164 is simply one island out of many scattered across the vast oceans connecting the PWL's member regions. I-164 and its similar counterparts were built with the intention to serve as an international pitstop for all ships that needed it and ships from all over the world, both state-owned or commercial, would know where to locate these islands on the sea map. From a member region's standpoint, it would not only allow their region's ships to be able to quickly seek help from the dangers of the sea if they were in trouble, but also allow their naval forces stationed on these islands to be able to quickly conduct rescue operations based on the last known location of the SOS signals that were sent out.
Thus, it was agreed upon the charter of the PWL during its founding that such islands would not belong to any region, and that all regions jointly share the territories of such islands in equal proportions as much as they are realistically able to divide them equally. Of course, not all of such islands would have seven naval bases from the different regions; some regions had decided against placing their naval forces on some of these islands for various reasons, but I-164 is one such island where the presence of naval forces from all seven member regions can be found due to it being situated on a very important and busy route that many ships would use for international travels.
Sebastian patiently followed behind his young lady, knowing that she was going a little stir crazy for being "trapped" on the ship for so long. It would do some good for her to have a change in scenery and the effects of the change could be seen from her good mood. The Hoenn forces stationed here were also very welcoming of their fellow countrymen when the passengers from all five ships disembarked, especially after hearing what they had to experience in Unova recently.
Ultimately, this place is still a military base. While the commander of this base had given his approval for the civilians to walk around and experience the joy of being able to walk on dry land once more, it's only largely limited to several unimportant areas where important secrets could not be stumbled upon. This section of the beach area where they are having their stroll is one of those, but not many chose to be here at this time of the day due to the unbearable heat from the sun. His young lady's cradily loved the sun, however, and very helpfully held up an umbrella with one of its tentacles to help shield its trainer from the heat while leisurely following after her.
The beach area is surrounded by two layers of fences. The inner layer is a normal metal fence with barbed wires on top to prevent anyone from scaling past it and getting through via unauthorised means. The outer layer is an electric fence with a very noticeable "HIGH VOLTAGE, KEEP OUT" sign placed nearby. The electric fence is the first layer of defence against any trespassers and wild pokemon that came from the sea. It's a necessary measure as the surrounding waters around this island weren't known for being safe. Wild water type pokemon, most notably crawdaunts, love to come ashore in schools to create trouble and they can be incredibly violent.
Sebastian took another look at his young lady, or more specifically, the Unovan doctor who had joined them in the middle of their stroll and is now engaging his young lady in casual talk. They are the only people who the doctor knew on the ship that they were on so it wasn't surprising that he preferred to approach them if he needed some company. It was also important to note that he might be his young lady's only hope in being able to live normally alongside her newly acquired and destructive abilities, but was the doctor ever known to be such a friendly person?
At least not in the rumours Sebastian had heard about him while he was at Unova. The doctor is known to have many connections to all sorts of people but he's far from being truly "friendly". During Sebastian's own independent investigations in their stay at Unova, there were numerous people that Sebastian had met in Unova's underworld who claimed that the doctor's the type where you shouldn't be surprised if he suddenly stabbed you in the back with a smile on his face just because you had unknowingly offended him.
It's precisely because of what he had learnt then that Sebastian felt that he cannot truly trust the doctor. Master Griff had entrusted his daughter's safety to him. He has to do his own due diligence as the butler of the Vera's family and the safety of his young lady is his utmost priority until they return back home.
He couldn't fully trust the doctor, yet they need the doctor. It's a very conflicting and contradictory situation that they are in right now.
"-with that in mind I was planning to create a medicine in the form of pills for easy consumption and ease of storage. Of course, I could only start work on that once we reached Hoenn and I have the necessary equipments and resources to do so-"
Ahead, Dr Lott was unaware of whatever was going through Sebastian's mind while he was telling his granddaughter of stories that he had heard or personally experienced, or tidbits of information regarding medicinal practices that she found interesting. He noted that she has a huge thirst for knowledge, an aspect that's very relatable and which made them alike. She's curious about how he would plan to help her learn how to control her ability and from there they began to delve into the history of different medicinal practices before modern medicine practice revolutionised the world.
Like he had told her, he had planned to use the extract of koffing's gas that he used in creating the incense to help her sleep better at night to create a fast-acting and effective suppressor in the event her ability suddenly went out of control. The reason for it was simple. Firstly, they have to acknowledge that it would take quite some time for Velda to eventually learn, harness, and control the abilities which she had involuntarily inherited through Devouring. However, two of her abilities have very disruptive and harmful effects to either herself or to everyone around her. Her greatest fear was the possibility that these abilities might suddenly go out of control in the time period from now till the point she is able to fully control her abilities. She doesn't want her abilities to accidentally harm or kill others so in order to ensure that this doesn't happen if the worst were to pass, they would have to come up with something to suppress her abilities, something that is able to produce immediate results once used.
This led Dr Lott to come up with the idea of creating medicinal pills through the extract of that unique gas which could currently only be found in certain unique koffings of their species. He chose to try creating such a remedy in a pill form after considering several factors. The remedy must be easy to use, carry around, and it must have a long enough shelf life. Turning the remedy into the form of a pill would address all of those concerns.
Accomplishing what he had in mind is definitely not going to be an easy process but he has confidence that he will be able to do it given time. The Vera family is a family of breeders and there will be no shortages of koffings for him to extract the needed gaseous compound from.
"Where did you learn your medicinal knowledge from?" His granddaughter asked curiously. She's a very beautiful and precious thing and for a moment he wondered what it would be like if he was able to stay by his daughter's side to raise her and be there for her at every important stage of her life. He wondered what it would be like if he was able to witness his grandchildrens' births and be the doting grandparent that watched them grow up alongside him and pester him with their antics. Granted, he would probably spoil them both rotten, but that is his right as their grandfather.
He quickly dismissed that hypothetical situation out of his mind. He shouldn't dream of such a possibility for their sake. There are too many people in the world who want his life for the many things that he has both done and also not done. The Vera family might be powerful but he doesn't want to take any chances. Even if they ended up not being able to harm his daughter and grandchildren his enemies would still be annoyances to their lives that he would rather not bring to them.
"Believe it or not I started learning medicine when I was still a child by practising on injured pokemon, not on people. My birthplace was a very poor place with only one doctor, you see, so it's quite a big deal when somebody falls sick. It was a few years later that I started to try diagnosing people's sickness when the doctor wasn't around and an emergency happened, so I had no other choice but to try what I could to save lives. It was how I first started walking this path."
"So you were… unlicensed?" His granddaughter's words trailed off at the end of her sentence when she eventually understood the repercussions of what he did. How cute of her.
"You could say that," he nodded with a smile. Of course, she wouldn't know that what he told her happened over a century ago where nobody cared if a doctor was licensed or not. Such a regulation wasn't even in place back then. All anyone ever cared about was whether the doctor could treat the illness and save their lives.
"How did you not get caught?"
"By being good at it?" He replied jokingly in return as they both continued to enjoy their stroll. Life hasn't been the best for him but it wasn't all that bad either.
At the very least, there are still people in this world that are worth living for.
The moon was hanging high up in the cloudless night sky by the time Zades exited the meeting room. He released a frustrated sigh and ran his hand through his hair as he walked down the corridor. What was discussed in the meeting wasn't exactly good news and he had the unfortunate luck to be involved in it.
Maybe he should just get himself a drink or two. He really has some horrid luck for being involved in sticky situations just right on his last tour before his official resignation from the military. The world really is turning into a crazier and crazier place each day ever since the Lilycove Invasion sparked a global craze for criminals around the world to try and emulate what Team Aqua did. The Lilycove Invasion, the attack on the Battle Frontier, Indigo One Day War, Plasma Crusade; each of these significant events happened successively in such short order throughout the last two years that it really isn't funny.
And things would only get crazier. Yes, each of the attempts from these notable criminal groups were ultimately foiled but it was the fact that they each managed to leave a lasting scar on the place and people that were hurt by their actions that truly threw the world into a state of disarray. The world had seen what they had done, other criminals had seen that the regional leagues were not as infallible and powerful as people assumed and for Unova's case, it had been proven that even the regional league can be subverted and they were almost toppled altogether. Even the belief that Legends were omniscient was disproved when Team Rocket and Team Plasma sicced them onto Johto and Unova, showing the world that it is now possible for mortals to command power that should rightfully belong to deities.
What turned out from all of the major events that had played out was was that a new idea had been slowly ingrained into these aspiring criminals, that they might be the one to succeed where others had failed, to instate a new world order through what their predecessors had previously done, thinking that they might succeed where their predecessors had failed.
Their mindset was like how one would think when trying to buy a lottery ticket. You know that it's unlikely that you would ever strike the lottery but it won't stop you from trying to buy a lottery ticket, because what if you were lucky enough to strike it?
He spotted a familiar figure when he walked past the common area.
"You are awake?"
"Oh, is this place out of bounds?" The Vera heiress replied from where she was previously leaning against the handrails to stare at the sea and enjoy the view. He shook his head in answer and walked to stand beside her. He could use the chilly sea breeze to cool his head off now, the discussions of the meeting earlier had raised his temper by quite a fair bit.
"I just wasn't expecting to bump into anyone here at this hour."
"Those should be my words. You okay? You don't seem to be in a good mood."
"Just left a meeting with the higher-ups, both from our region and the other regions. Everyone would be made aware of this tomorrow morning but to keep things simple, we might not be able to head back home immediately even after the resupplying is completed."
"What? Why?" Velda looked understandably concerned at the sudden news being dropped on her. Zades cannot help but release another sigh at the mere thought of the problem that resulted in this predicament.
"The pirates in the vicinity had been very active lately. The naval bases on I-164 were initially built to address the issue but the sea is no man's land. The only law out at sea is your strength, because out here at sea is where the jurisdiction of justice cannot reach. These pirates, they don't give a damn if the passing vessel is a commercial or military vessel. As long as they believe that they can take it on, they will take it on. They will rob, they will kill, they will pillage, rape, enslave their victims and traffick them; anything bad that you could think of, they will do it or had already done it before. We had incidents where even military vessels were sunk by these pirates. They had even sunk one Kalos military vessel just last week, no survivors, and it was why this meeting was held in the first place. The Kalos commander was hurling vulgarities the entire meeting."
"I see," the girl's lips were pressed into a grim line. "So since we so happened to conveniently drop by where we have you, a potential Gym Leader candidate, and also two Gym Leaders who also happened to be passing by, they want us to help? Because we cannot safely sail the sea back home if we don't take these pirates out first?"
"In a way, they weren't wrong to say that," Zades affirmed the girl's guess. "I just wasn't happy that they virtually morally kidnapped us Hoenn forces to do the heavy lifting simply because we had better trainers stationed here at the moment. It felt like they were taking advantage of our situation where we absolutely needed to send our people back home in one piece as soon as possible. We couldn't possibly keep you guys here at I-164 forever, could we? We will have to deal with the pirate problem one way or another. The commanders from the other regions understand that, so they are indirectly forcing us to take the lead to do something about this."
"Are they not going to provide any support at all?"
"I'm sure they will, the problem is how much support we can realistically expect to receive. Planning a joint operation between forces of more than two regions is a chore, let me tell you, and sometimes we are just better off doing it ourselves due to the differences of our protocols and procedures. Our commanding officer here is of the belief that it might just be better for us to do it ourselves and I actually am inclined to think the same. It's simply more hassle free to do things this way. We might count on the Indigo navy to provide some support, our regions' militaries had historically held many joint operations together in the name of solidifying relations so we are quite familiar with how the other party does things. The other regions, not that much. Some are unwilling to really help and just want us to do all the work, some want to help but are totally unfamiliar with how we operate and might get in our way instead but we don't have time to spare for our forces to familiarise ourselves with each other; you get the gist."
"I…" Velda looked a little lost at what to say. "Sorry, I'm not too sure what to do or say to make you feel better, because this clearly is a shitty situation. I don't even want to imagine how the other civilians might react when they learnt that we might not be able to go back home immediately and might be stuck here for an indefinite period of time."
"Yes, we will have to deal with that too. Managing their expectations will be a pain," Zades sighed again. "Seriously, I just want to complete this last mission and be done with military life. Is this too much to ask for?"
"Do you need my help?" She asked and Zades actually seriously considered if he should take her up on her offer. He knew a lot about her, both from official and non-official sources due to the secret mission he was given by the higher-ups to ensure her safe return to Hoenn no matter the cost.
She is a little too young to be involved in this mess for his liking, but there's no denying that she's an incredibly skilled Elite level trainer who had proven that she could hold her weight in major operations. Elite level trainers are already a rarity since not many are capable of completing the gym circuit to earn all eight badges and successfully complete a regional conference. Even on his ship, they only have a small handful of Elite trainers. Most of his men are Advanced or Intermediate level trainers.
More importantly, she had experience in participating in such operations and has a unique set of skills that nobody has. They are also quite starved for skilled trainers at the moment and they really need all the firepower they could gather to pull off this operation, even if it's just one more trainer.
"Do you have any experience in naval battles?" He asked and she shook her head. Well, that certainly struck out the possibility of having her assist at the forefront if he were to take her up on her offer.
"Aerial battles?"
"I learnt a little from Winona before and also from a Flying Specialist in the interpol. I'm definitely not an expert in it, but I'm confident that I won't be a liability."
"I might just take you up on your offer then, I will let you know before noon tomorrow." He acquiesced. "Meanwhile, you might want to use the PC Transfer System here to get your flying types over. You will need them if you are to participate in this operation. I can also use this opportunity to guide you on how our navy operates."
"Is that really okay? I'm not a member of the military. Won't there be confidentiality issues?"
"You are a key person of interest that the region has decided to protect and groom until you reach your potential, just like how they once did for people like Steven Stone and your brother. Why else do you think they agreed to your request and sent you off to the interpol? It was to let you gain the needed experience. Be it due to your duties as a Vera or otherwise, you will eventually be involved in assisting the region to protect our peace from time to time, maybe one day you might even take part in the decision making of the highest level. You said that you don't have experience in naval battles, so use this opportunity to see for yourself how naval battles are conducted. It will be a good learning opportunity for you. Our region's territory is made up of fifty percent land and fifty percent water, as an Elite trainer you will have to learn how to fight effectively on the sea one day, there's no escaping that."
"Fighting on the sea… urgh, I always get seasick on voyages, definitely not looking forward to naval battles," she muttered under her breath and he released a soft laugh at her remark.
"You will be fine. I will be at the forefront doing all the heavy lifting, you just have to circle the airspace above and provide some support if required. Maybe you won't have to do anything at all if all goes well."
"Oh? So I finally get to see the future Sootopolis Gym Leader in action?" She playfully blinked her eyes in faux innocence and he resisted the urge to poke a finger at her forehead to push her away for her cheeky remark.
"I'm not going to take up that shitty position."
"That's what Volkner always said and he ended up becoming the strongest Gym Leader of his generation."
"That's him, not me. Why are you so interested in seeing me take up that position anyway?"
"So that I can at least tell Juan that I tried convincing you," the Vera heiress shrugged her shoulders dramatically with an equally dramatic sigh. "You have no idea how much more frequent we had been messaging each other lately because of you, he sounds pretty desperate to have someone capable of filling in his position that is not Wallace. Hmm, you are sighing again."
"Because I'm so done with all this shit," Zades released yet another sigh. "My mentor… There are many things that I will gladly do for him as long as he asks, but this is not one of them. The responsibilities that come with the position, the burden that I will have to shoulder, these are not things that I want in life. The title of a Pillar seems glamorous but I had observed my mentor long enough to know that it is a thankless job. I don't have the patience to guide aspiring trainers too, I'm not teacher material."
"Understandable," she nodded and leaned onto the handrails. "You know what? You look like you need a good rest. Go and sleep, I will be fine on my own here. See you tomorrow."
"Let the guys on night duty know if you need anything," he reminded her before leaving and she nodded in acknowledgement, waving him goodbye and he returned the gesture. The position of a Gym Leader is not something that he wants and he's not too sure if he will have to take it up eventually despite his reluctance. It's the same dilemma that his friend Jason is currently facing as well when it comes to the succession problem of Mauville Gym Leader.
Gym Leader… He shook his head at the thought. No, he's not fit to be a Gym Leader.
He's not worthy to be one.
Character and pokemon list:
Velda Vera, Age: 14, Female, Pokemon Trainer
Pokemon on hand:
1) Rapidash (Flamel), male
2) Swampert (Bigblue), male
3) Banette (Dolly), female
4) Flygon (Snap), male
5) Absol (Kelsa), female
6) Charizard (Toothless), male
7) Cradily (Lily), female
8) Espeon (Rena), female
9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male
10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male
11) Clefairy (Joy), female
12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female
13) Pangoro (Hulk), male
14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless
15) Scizor (Archer), male
16) Lapras (Chill), female
17) Gengar (Wacky), male