Today is a little special.
Some time back, Steven had contacted me to inform that there were arrangements made between the Unova League and the Hoenn League. Considering the Plasma problem that Unova is currently facing and with the aftermath of Team Rocket's actions still fresh in everyone's minds, nobody wished for the Plasma problem to eventually evolve into the kind of disaster Team Rocket had brought upon Indigo's soil. As a result, Hoenn had offered to send assistance as a show of goodwill.
The Unova League had accepted the assistance offered by the Hoenn League. My responsibility is a unique one because not only am I Hoenn's representative in the interpol, I also am currently the only person representing my region in overseas affairs where the Hoenn League is involved. It's an inevitable outcome resulting from my status as an interpol agent and also from my background as a member of the Vera family.
I was told that the Hoenn League will send two Pillars over to Unova. However, Steven had very playfully refused to reveal just who he decided to send. In fact, he didn't give me much time to prepare. By the time I was told of this arrangement made between the Hoenn League and the Unova League it was when said assistance from the Hoenn League would arrive in two days' time. That also meant that this arrangement made between both regions would have been agreed upon much earlier before I was made known of it.
I really wonder who the Hoenn League would send. I had met each and every Pillar of my region before and I am on good terms with most of them. Heaven forbid if they sent Sidney over though, I could never know how to deal with that man.
That aside, it also seemed that the Unova League was preparing to conduct something on a massive scale and that the interpol were to cooperate and assist with their plans. The signs were all there if one were to make a proper observation. The Unova League had been making preparations to gather their best trainers and even Looker had told us that he had gotten additional reinforcements to temporarily assist the interpol. However, just like Steven, Looker is a man who loves to play sick jokes with us and has a sadistic streak a mile wide. To date, he still hasn't told us just who he had invited to join our ranks for this short period of time.
The day finally came. Looker had gathered the entire interpol and brought us to a secret military base owned by the Unova League for a secret meeting of the highest confidentiality level. And lo and behold, I was glad that I wasn't the only person in the room whose jaws dropped in shock when we spotted a certain annoying Hokage wannabe lazily waving at us from his seat in the room.
"Volkner? Why are you- You are the reinforcement Looker told us about?"
"Hey, why are you so surprised? Aren't you guys glad to see me?" Volkner dramatically replied in mock hurt with a hand over where his heart was supposed to be. He shifted his body slightly to reveal another person who was sitting beside him. Jasmine gave us a wave from where she's sitting beside Volkner and our jaws all dropped even further.
"Jasmine too?" Skye said in disbelief as we all excitedly crowded around the husband-wife pair in the meeting room because it's been so long since we last met. We were here early, and it didn't take long for all of us to break the ice and quickly fill each other in on what had happened in our lives since we went our separate ways after the incident at Indigo. Most of us had already been acquainted with each other when we were planning out our countermeasures for Team Rocket back at Volkner's West Forest and seeing each other again felt like meeting old friends after a long time. Jasmine was still in a coma when we left and we were all glad to see that she's awake and well.
However, she had relinquished her position as Gym Leader of Olivine not long after she woke up from her coma. Her decision to step down from her position was a combination of many factors, but the main reasons were the loss of six pokemon on her team and the war we experienced at Indigo. Gym Leader or not, the loss of six pokemon is a huge blow and dent on a trainer's strength and the firepower they could bring on the battlefield. It is not something that can be easily remedied because even for Gym Leaders, it takes an extensive amount of time and resources to train a new batch of pokemon into Pillar-level strength.
Nobody was surprised about Jasmine's decision to step down. Her position and responsibility had now been handed down to her then Assistant Gym Leader, Eusine, who's still learning the ropes in preparation for his official inauguration. From what we were told, he will officially take up the position in a month or two. Until then, Elite Four Bruno will take charge of the Olivine Gym to ensure that its daily operations run smoothly.
"A volcarona on the Champion level? I'd like to fight one of those some day," Volkner mused when we told him about that part of our Unova adventure. Volkner's raichu voiced its agreement with an excited squeak and were promptly greeted by stares of disbelief from Skye and I.
Right, only somebody like him would be eager to face that insane moth in a battle. Even Jayce would choose to keep a healthy distance from that volcarona if given the choice.
Speaking of which.
I gestured for Volkner to lower his head so that I could whisper into his ear without attracting the attention of anybody who was not part of us seven, which he did after raising his eyebrows at me but soon acquiesced to my request anyway. I gave him a very quick summary about my meeting with Jayce and our current working relationship.
"Really? So Batman was with you?"
"Batman?" Skye repeated incredulously. "That's the nickname you are giving him?"
"The hero we don't deserve but the hero we need, don't you guys think it's a fitting description of him?" Volkner asked back in return and Skye looked away with a scoff. She still held a grudge for Jayce, that I do not doubt, but it's already a very big improvement from before. It's obvious that something had happened between them back in the Relic Castle after we were separated by that onix. My guess was that Skye had learned that the masked operative that she had been working with was Jayce and whatever happened between them in that period of time would forever be a mystery. However, where she outright hated his guts before, now her attitude towards him was merely reluctance to be stuck together with him.
"So how long will you be stuck with us? Actually, how on earth did Looker convince you both to come over to help?" I cannot help but ask. Over at another side, Jasmine was engaged in conversation with Mary, Akamu, Nova, and Shannon, allowing Skye and I to talk to Volkner alone. Then there's Hugh, who was still awkwardly standing alone in the middle of nowhere until Mary pulled him into the conversation on her end. As for Looker, he had long since disappeared the moment we went up to talk to Volkner.
"Remember Master Balls? The wonder pokeball that made the Zapmolcuno mess possible?"
I nodded. We already knew that Team Rocket and Team Galactic had a long standing secret collaboration with each other and what came out from that was the invention of the Master Balls. The PWL, and especially the Sinnoh League, are prioritising their efforts to prevent more of such nasty inventions from being released to the general public, especially in the underworld where the laws cannot reach. That looks like a problem for the interpol to tackle once this pressing Plasma issue had been dealt with.
"I'm here to put a stop to what I should have finished before stepping down as the Gym Leader of Sunyshore. The Galactic's invention of the Master Ball was my responsibility, or at least, this is how I feel about this issue. Long story short, I have reasons to believe that there were signs that Team Plasma might have gotten their hands on a few Master Balls as well, so here I am. It saves the Sinnoh League the trouble of having to send a representative from their side as well anyway."
"You still keep in contact with them? I thought you hated the Sinnoh League?" Skye asked, knowing just how much Volkner detest authority and how low his opinion of the Sinnoh League is. That is a secret that all of us "Sages" are privy to. Except for Jayce, perhaps, since he's rarely around.
"Hey, work is work, and contrary to popular beliefs I know when to keep my personal feelings aside when it comes to important matters," Volkner said in exasperation upon seeing the dubious looks we were giving him. "Also, Jas and I can also take this opportunity to have our long awaited vacation, travelling the world and things like that. Maybe try for a kid once we feel like we are up for it again."
"Jokes aside, it's good to see you again. Everything feels a lot safer with you around," I said, knowing for a fact that Volkner is an Elite Four level trainer that could give even Champions a run for their money. His vast experience in dealing with criminal organisations is also a welcomed addition. His participation and contribution to the defence efforts during the war at Indigo were proof of his capabilities. Nobody can deny that.
"Is that a praise I hear, short stack?"
"Call me short one more time-"
"And you will grow taller?"
"Oh you've gone and done it now, you Hokage wannabe-"
The door of the meeting room opened once more at that moment and we all turned to see just who else had entered. I was in for another surprise when I saw just who walked through those doors.
"Flannery! Norman!"
I excitedly waved the both of them over and they spotted me almost immediately. Flannery walked up to me in brisk steps, easily pulling me to her side in a hug when she swung an arm over my shoulders.
"I heard it from Vance all the time, but you've really grown quite a bit since I last saw you," Flannery wasted no time in trying to give me that noogie that she loves to do whenever we see each other and I quickly escaped from her hold before I became her victim. Norman walked up to us and I don't think I could hide the smile on my face even if I tried. It felt good to see familiar faces from home in a foreign land.
"Hi Norman, how's May?"
"At the age where she never fails to give me and my wife a headache," Norman replied with a wry smile on his face. This man could unofficially qualify as my teacher considering that I had learnt under him for an extended period of time when I was his Gym Trainer.
"Nice to see you again, Vel. It's been a long time."
"Yup. Steven said that he would be sending two Pillars over, but I never thought it would be you guys."
"Oh? Then who were you expecting?" Flannery egged on with a grin, the torkoal by her side leisurely puffing out a cloud of white smoke from its nostrils as she said that.
"For some reason I thought it would be Roxanne and Brawly, cos the last time I called her she was complaining about wanting to go on a vacation. Wouldn't this be a good opportunity for them to go on their long awaited date on the guise of a business trip? With all expenses covered too?"
Flannery and Norman shared a quick look with each other.
"Actually, you were almost right on that front. Both of them did volunteer to come over but in the end, Steven sent us over instead. Ro and Brawly are still needed back home for other things," Flannery replied.
"I guess they must have been disappointed."
"Maybe," Flannery said with a knowing look on her face. "Well, both of them told me to say hi to you. Ro still wants to see how far your tyranitar's control over sand has developed, something about needing to collect data or something."
"Oh, that. I will see what I can do about it," I gave a sheepish awkward laugh in reply. I was aware that Roxanne had been writing a new thesis paper recently, something about further research on the move Sandstorm and the Sand Stream ability and the in-depth analysis of the relationship between them. Kratos just happens to be a candidate for her case study and I'm not planning to refuse her request because Roxanne was a huge help in helping me to train Kratos to harness the power of sand.
The only problem is that we are now literally regions apart and so, collecting accurate data is going to be a problem for Roxanne. Maybe this was one reason why Roxanne was trying to convince Steven to send her here to Unova. To an academic like her, research and knowledge will always be her number one priority. And speaking of Steven…
"It wouldn't be long until Steven assumes Wallace's position, right?"
"His probation period is almost over," Norman affirmed. "There's going to be a minor shift in our ranks as well. Juan had been wanting to step down for a long time due to his health. Problem is, we are having trouble trying to find a suitable replacement so for the time being, Wallace had volunteered to fill in that position. Although from what I could see Wallace doesn't really seem to mind the position of Gym Leader so this arrangement might become permanent. After Flannery and I return to Hoenn, it will probably be about time when Steven will be officially crowned as the new Hoenn Champion. In fact, Steven had been taking up most of the Champion's duty as of late even as we speak."
"I guess that makes Wallace a very free and happy man."
"You can say that again," Flannery laughed. "He has been making more and more frequent visits to Fortree City lately because he has so much more free time on his hands now. One guess as to who he's visiting there."
"Oh, I don't know… Maybe the most powerful Flying type Specialist in the region?"
"Right in one."
"You are Petalburg City's Gym Leader?" Volkner asked as he walked up to us. Norman simply answered Volkner's question with a nod of his head.
"You are…?"
"He's Volkner, previous Gym Leader of Sunyshore and one of the most annoying men I ever met," I helpfully informed and quickly ducked out of the way and hid myself behind Flannery before Volkner's hand could swat at my head for my cheeky remark. I very childishly poked my head out from behind Flannery and stuck my tongue out at Volkner. There's no way he could bully me with Flannery and Norman around.
"Norman," Norman introduced himself and held out his hand, which Volkner accepted and shook.
"Like you heard from Vel there, I'm Volkner. I've always wanted to meet and battle that legendary slaking of yours. Heard that it's a real monster to go up against."
"Likewise, I've always wanted to meet the man who trained an electivire that could injure legends," Norman returned Volkner's words in kind. It may have been my imagination, but I think both of them were using a little more force than necessary in their handshake and I thought I felt a spark of heated rivalry in here. Also, why are they still shaking each other's hands?
But taking a step back, a battle between these two legendary trainers would definitely be a titanic one. Ever since Norman stepped up to be the Gym Leader of Petalburg there were always arguments in the Hoenn's trainer community regarding who is now the strongest Gym Leader in Hoenn, him or Juan, but nobody ever managed to accurately rank or assess their strength. Volkner had held the indisputable title as Sinnoh's strongest Gym Leader until his resignation. Imagine it, a battle between the previously strongest Gym Leader of Sinnoh and what is also possibly currently the strongest Gym Leader of Hoenn…
That's a battle that I would definitely pay to watch.
"Never seen Norman so fired up before," Flannery whispered to me as we both watched on in silence as the two men continued to converse with obvious competitive tension between them, as if they were sizing each other up.
"I'd never seen Volkner so fired up before either," I replied in kind. I never knew that there's such a competitive side to that lazy man, but I guess he didn't become the strongest Gym Leader of Sinnoh by being laid-back all the time.
"Never thought that our guests would arrive so early, I apologise for the lack of a warm reception, but welcome to Unova."
The owner of that scratchy voice that interrupted our conversation was Grimsley, who had somehow appeared within the room without me knowing when or how. Beside him was Elesa, a person that the interpol is very familiar with by now.
"Oh hello Grimsley, it's been awhile," Volkner lazily greeted back with a wave of his hand. Pretty sure that the two of them were acquainted with each other back in Indigo.
"Glad to see that you are still kicking, it's reassuring to have you here," Grimsley nodded in reply before turning to face Norman and Flannery. "And welcome to Unova, Norman, Flannery. Unova is glad to have you here and we are thankful for your assistance."
"Don't mention it, we are equally honoured to be able to work alongside someone of your stature. Steven also sends his regards on behalf of the Hoenn League," Norman conveyed the stance of our region on behalf of our Champion, or soon-to-be Champion in this case.
"Never been in a place with so many big shots around before. This trip is worth it," Flannery whispered to me with an excited gleam in her eyes. I guess meeting Gym Leaders and Elite Fours from other regions is a very rare opportunity even for someone like Flannery, mostly because of the lack of proper inter-regional transportation infrastructure and also because people like her are unable to leave their posts as freely as they liked. Most of their time is being confined to their respective cities that they were tasked to protect and oversee.
"So are you planning to challenge another Gym Leader or two?"
"I wouldn't say that, but I'm not going to say no to a spar, just to gauge where I stand," Flannery admitted. "I think it's the same for Norman and Volkner as well. I'd bet that those two are going to battle right after this Plasma problem has been dealt with."
"I'm definitely going to watch that."
"Who wouldn't?"
This meeting was attended by the entirety of the Unova's Pillars, the interpol, some of Unova's best trainers that already have what it takes to succeed the position of Gym Leaders at any time should there be an available spot, and other important key figures from within the Unova League and the other branches of its military force.
I will skip the boring and technical details of the super duper secret and highly confidential meeting. In short, now that the Unova League has made their due preparations, we are going to take action.
Ever since the interpol had arrived and started work in Unova we had been slowly yet steadily succeeding in reducing Team Plasma down to a manageable size. To wipe Team Plasma out entirely from existence is not realistic due to how large of an organisation they had expanded into, so this operation aims to strike at the hearts of Team Plasma and hopefully, this will cripple them to the point where they wouldn't be a huge threat to the region for any longer. The Unova League can pick up the mess on their own after we cut Team Plasma down to size.
The lists of things we had collectively uncovered about Team Plasma were many. Among which, what I felt was the most atrocious act they had committed was the abduction of Ability Holders. There was a huge surge of increased kidnapping activities in Unova recently. However, the Unova League was unable to identify if these kidnappings were related to each other due to the seemingly random and diverse backgrounds of the kidnappees and the lack of an obvious motivation for the kidnappings. The interpol was involved in the investigation at some point in time but I wasn't involved in the investigation so I was pretty much out of the loop. Nova was the one that Looker assigned to assist the Unova League in looking into the matter. It was until very recently that they found out that most of the kidnappings were Team Plasma's handiwork and without any exception, every abductee they kidnapped were actually Ability Holders.
What Team Plasma wanted to achieve through these kidnappings was organ theft. Team Plasma has identified and abducted Ability Holders across the region to "harvest" their organs and somehow, they have invented some sort of surgical process where implanting these stolen organs into non-Ability Holders is able to transfer the abilities to them, turning people who were previously non-Ability Holders into Ability Holders. Team Plasma had been building a huge army of what we now temporarily refer to as "pseudo Ability Holders".
The Culture Purge of Unova four hundred years ago had a lasting impact on Unova's history and culture. It was a time when Ability Holders were culled and hunted down much like a witch hunt, where the flames of war started to spread across the region once again after the last huge war during the era of warring states. A lot of Unova's history and culture was lost in that purge and more importantly, innocent lives as well. Thereafter, in order to protect themselves, Ability Holders learned how to conceal themselves and their abilities, learning how to blend into society without standing out.
If one were to trace the cause of this historical development to an even earlier point in time, it would be during the era of warring states five hundred years ago. The origin of all the fear and prejudice directed at Ability Holders was Unova's very first Champion, Nicholas Harlow, the Mad Conqueror with the ability to command entire armies of dragons at his beck and call. He was the man who could never lose no matter how impossible the odds were stacked against him. Every war and battle he fought, he and his faction were always severely outnumbered but they always won. He commanded and led an army largely made up of Ability Holders and while they were small in numbers, they never suffered a single defeat. This was how he became Champion. This was the kind of terrifying might that Ability Holders can wield when banded together and fighting for a single cause.
And now, Team Plasma wanted to recreate the miracle that Champion Harlow made.
In this meeting, we were made aware of a secret that the Unova League preferred to keep under wraps. It was the source of Champion Harlow's strength and how he kept recreating miracles after miracles on the battlefield to the point that he could be considered a legend among legends. It is a secret and the truth of why Ability Holders were so feared in the days of old.
The Unova League revealed that according to their findings, theoretically, all Ability Holders have the potential to tap into an unknown source of strength known as "Resonance". It is a state that theoretically, all Ability Holders are able to enter but in reality, a feat that only a scant few ever managed to attain. Not much was really known about this mysterious facet of Ability Holders but to put it simply, whenever an Ability Holder enters the state of Resonance they are able to give their pokemon a huge boost in power for as long as they could remain in that state. If the pokemon in question is of the same typing as the inclination of the Ability Holder's ability, then that power will be further amplified. Theoretically, through Resonance, even a pokemon of average strength could suddenly possess the strength needed to fight a Pillar level pokemon on equal footing when under the influence of Resonance.
However, the actual results achieved by Resonance vary largely from trainer to trainer and pokemon to pokemon. The only thing we are sure of is that Resonance can definitely bring about an incredible power boost to the pokemon's strength for as long as Resonance lasts, but as to how great the boost is, how long that power up will last; it varies largely from person to person. Whether Resonance really allows an average pokemon to fight a Pillar level pokemon as its equal still really depends on both the trainer and the pokemon in question, but the potency of Resonance can be improved with practice.
Champion Harlow's mastery of his ability and his capability to freely enter into the state of Resonance was why he's called the Mad Conqueror. His pokemon were all Champion level and combined with the extreme power boost granted by his mastery of Resonance, it's no wonder that he eventually conquered every single foe on the battlefield and unified Unova. His ability was dragon inclined and dragons tend to fly into a blind rage when they are at the peak of their anger. The Unova League's best explanation for the mysterious source of his strength was that his infamous berserker tendencies and suicidal battling style were in actuality, a side effect of him expressing this trait of his dragon inclined ability whenever he enters the state of Resonance.
However, there were very few records left that documented anything pertaining to Resonance after the Culture Purge so it's impossible to verify that hypothesis. What we do know is that achieving "Resonance" is not an easy feat to achieve. Even the Unova League has very little knowledge about what Resonance truly is and how to invoke it. As far as the Unova League is aware, there were no records of Ability Holders managing to enter the state of Resonance ever since Champion Harlow's death.
Until very recently.
One of Unova's most elite special forces had encountered Ghetsis' bodyguards and trusted followers, the Shadow Triad, and had confirmed that the three of them are Ability Holders with the ability to freely enter and exit the state of Resonance. Whether their abilities were born or were artificially bestowed through Team Plasma's sick experiments remains to be seen, but the fact that they could enter Resonance was a huge cause of concern. If Champion Harlow could conquer an entire region through his mastery of Resonance, what would that mean for Unova if Ghetsis has three of such trainers by his side?
The worst part of it was that the Unova League has strong reasons to believe that Team Plasma has unlocked the secrets of Resonance, allowing their army of pseudo Ability Holders to freely enter that state. By giving their most loyal and zealous members Abilities that they robbed from Ability Holders which they kidnapped, and thereafter bestowing them the knowledge of tapping into a well of power that could possibly turn the tide of any battle, Team Plasma had succeeded in building a terrifying army that could rival Champion Harlow's own in the days of old.
The Unova League's estimation of the number of Ability Holders in Team Plasma's fold is not a small number. If we assume the worst, that every single one of them are able to freely enter the state of Resonance, then Team Plasma now has the firepower needed to soon topple the Unova League.
Suddenly, everything seemed much bleaker. Nobody had expected for Team Plasma to have hidden such a card up their sleeves. To be fair, this is a development that nobody would have imagined to happen even in their wildest dreams. If Resonance has the theoretical potential to allow a pokemon of average strength to be able to go toe to toe with another pokemon trained by a Pillar, even if it's just for a short while, the consequences of such an implication is disastrous when there's now a hostile army of such people working to overthrow the Unova League's rule. Even Norman's usually stern expression had soured even further when we learnt of this news and he's usually not a man to express his mood so visibly.
The next pressing issue to deal with was the confirmed theft of the fossil of an entirely newly discovered species of pokemon. It is a Bug type pokemon that is estimated to be on the strength of a mythical pokemon. In fact, Shannon was the person who initially made the revival of such a pokemon possible.
That pokemon is genesect.
Genesect's fossil had been handed over to the Unova League for safekeeping after Shannon had managed to piece out the entire complete sequence of its DNA to make its revival a possibility. However, somewhere down the line, Shannon's research data and a piece of that fossil had been stolen without the Unova League being any wiser. Those eventually ended up in Team Plasma's hands and it ended up in Team Plasma kidnapping Shannon and Mary to coerce them into not only reviving Genesect, but to modify it to their liking. Shannon and Mary had no other choice but to do as they were told because Team Plasma was holding baby Silver hostage back then. They were rescued eventually and I only knew about their kidnapping after they had returned safe and sound since I happened to be elsewhere in the region assisting Looker in other tasks, but Team Plasma had already gotten what they were here for. Mary and Shannon were forced to revive Genesect per Team Plasma's orders.
"I think Team Plasma wanted to take a leaf out of Team Rocket's books, to create an entirely new pokemon based on the DNA sample of an existing one. Mewtwo's existence is proof that such an endeavour is possible and Team Plasma wanted to recreate Team Rocket's success," Mary spoke as she briefed everyone present about Genesect with a grim look on her face. "However, to emulate Team Rocket's experiment was not possible given how unique Genesect's DNA is structured and it was where they hit a dead end. This project was spearheaded by someone in Team Plasma called Scientist Dudley until we were forcefully brought in to carry on where he left off. Team Plasma forced us to come up with the next best thing, which is to technologically enhance it to give it capabilities to further enhance its power. Most notably, they had us install a cannon on Genesect's back."
The screen flickered as a long list of what I assumed were programming codes filled the screen, along with an image of a porygon-z.
"They had my child hostage but at the same time, I wanted to leave open the possibility of turning Team Plasma's creation against them so that they could not carry on with their plan. To do that, I decided to see if I could try my hand in turning Genesect into a semi-cybernetic pokemon much like porygon is since I am well-versed with their biology and programming code. As such, the Genesect variant that Shannon and I created now shares the same unique ability as the porygon species, Download, allowing it to be able to quickly learn and adapt accordingly to the situation. They possess a steel-bug dual typing similar to the scizor species and are very adept in both close and long range combat. In close combat, they would favour using the claws on their arms. In ranged combat, they would rely on the cannon on its back to obliterate their enemies in a single blast. At the same time, due to the porygon source code that Shannon and I programmed into the Genesects, theoretically, they should have the same command that all porygons would have, which is to help humanity. That is something that we can try to exploit and turn the Genesect against Team Plasma. I had also left a virus in their programming to see if I could hack into and regain command of them remotely but so far there's no success. However, in the event we were able to capture these Genesects again I could possibly use that same virus to reprogram them to fight for our cause instead. Hopefully, Team Plasma still has not detected that virus. As far as I'm aware, after the completion of their physical bodies and programming they hadn't had the time to tame and readjust the program Shannon and I coded into Genesect to their liking and it also definitely wouldn't be an easy process. If we are lucky enough, they might still be struggling with recalibrating Genesect's programming since I made sure to make it difficult for them to modify it."
"How confident are you in reprogramming Genesect?" Norman voiced his concern, much to my surprise. He was never a man of many words.
"I never had a chance to try, but the chances of success is more than fifty percent."
"How many Genesects have they revived?"
"Shannon and I were forced to create and programme five of them, I'm not too sure if there are any more copies elsewhere."
"So we have five mythical level pokemon on the loose and in the worst case scenario, Team Plasma might already have full control over them?"
"Yes."
"Any other weakness that we can exploit?"
"Even if we assume that Team Plasma managed to get these Genesects functioning and combat ready, these Genesects are technically newborn. If we were to look at the porygon species as reference, Download is not an ability that can be easily harnessed, especially so for newborn porygons. It would take a while for these Genesects to learn how to properly use their abilities and they would act very methodically. At this point, they are more machine than pokemon, so the best way to take them down would be to do something that is outside of the scope of their calculations. Basically, the element of surprise, do something that they would never expect you to do. However, every surprise would only work once. Once a trick has been recorded by their Download ability, trying to use the same trick on them again would probably not work. They would have come up with a countermeasure."
"The cannon on their backs, how powerful would you rate it?"
"That is a Team Plasma invention that was already completed before we were brought in to complete the project, but based on what little I managed to glean, that cannon is powerful enough to grant instant death to any pokemon who gets hit by it unless they have very powerful defensive capabilities," Mary answered without skipping a beat and almost everyone took a glance in Jasmine's direction. She had made quite a name for herself for being able to block Zapmolcuno's attack and coming out of it alive.
"You can send Jas and I to where you guys think these Genesects are most likely at. We will take them," Volkner volunteered. Even he had discarded his lazy persona entirely while we were on the discussion of the Genesect problem, another indication of just how serious this problem is.
"That's five mythical pokemon, Volkner," Looker helpfully reminded him.
"I have a porygon-z and I trust Mary's skills as an inventor. I saw her skills for myself back at Indigo when we last worked together. She said she left a virus in Genesect's programming, didn't she? She can install a program into my own porygon-z so that we can use it against the Genesect by taking advantage of the virus she left there."
"That's certainly one way of going about it."
"Based on our investigations, the place where Team Plasma would most likely hold the Genesects would be their stronghold at Icirrus City," Grimsley added from the side.
"Got it."
"These will be the four major Plasma strongholds that we will be raiding," Grimsley, being the main person in charge of this operation, took over the briefing once the discussion about the Genesect problem had been concluded. "Icirrus, Striaton, Nacrene, and surprisingly enough, Opelucid. While the Unova League would prefer if we could mobilise all of our Pillars, that is not possible nor is it realistic. There are still other Team Plasma bases that will need our attention. As such, this is what I will propose."
An entire list of manpower staffing was displayed on the screen. At first glance, I could tell that the interpol agents had all been split up into four different groups that correspond to the four cities that house one of Team Plasma's four major hideouts which we uncovered. From the looks of it, Flannery, Looker, and I are all assigned to Opelucid City.
At least I will be in the company of familiar people.
"Guess we are going to be in the same group," Flannery wrestled me to her side, which really wasn't difficult seeing that we were sitting next to each other.
"Come to think about it, I don't think I had ever seen you fighting at full strength before," I added, only realising now that the only time I ever saw Flannery fighting her battles was with my gym battle with her and in the short period of time that I had went to find her at Lavaridge after I earned my Rain Badge from Juan. She had never displayed her full strength to me on both occasions simply because there wasn't a need to. Back then, I was simply just another Advanced level trainer.
"Don't be too awed when you see it."
"Har har," I replied dryly and took another look at the screen. Norman has been assigned to Striaton City together with Akamu… Wow, that's a very nasty combination if I ever see one. Between Akamu's incredible supportive capabilities and Norman's insane strength, they are going to be near unbeatable. Grimsley sure knows how to allocate manpower to the right places.
"Who's Cheren and Roxie?" I asked softly and Flannery shook her head, telling me that she had no idea either. Those two unfamiliar names were shown on the screen next to Akamu's and Norman's, also assigned to assist in raiding Team Plasma's hideout in Striaton City. Since their names were put next to Norman's they had to have some sort of standing within the Unova League. I wouldn't be surprised if they were some big shots that we had no idea about.
"They are some of Unova's best and rising trainers, qualified enough to be a Gym Leader even if any one of us were to step down even right now," a voice answered my question and Flannery and I both turned around, spotting the Gym Leader of Nacrene City, Lenora, beaming at us with a huge smile where she was seated behind us. She discreetly pointed a finger to our left, prompting us to turn our heads to where she had pointed to.
"The punk looking girl with white hair is Roxie, the neat looking lad beside her is Cheren. Poison and Normal Specialist respectively. Good kids, both of them."
"They look to be around my age," Flannery remarked just as Grimsley ended this meeting and everyone started to stand up from their seats and the noise level began to rise. I saw Looker beckoning for Flannery and I to come over and I know that there are further discussions to be had seeing that Drayden was standing beside him.
"Off you go, ladies, you don't want to be late to a meeting with that strict geezer," Lenora joked with a hearty laugh as she too, stood up from her seat. "By the way, do any of you happen to know who Nova, Skye, and Hugh are? They are the interpol agents assigned to my city."
"Nova is the woman with the bright orange-red hair. Skye and Hugh are the ones sitting beside her," I pointed out for Lenora, who sent me her thanks before the jovial Gym Leader strode over to familiarise herself with Nova and co and also to further discuss in-depth of how they will be delegating their tasks among themselves that day. Flannery and I walked over to where Looker and Drayden were.
"Drayden Gilmart, just call me Drayden," Drayden offered his hand to Flannery, which she shook. Drayden and I were already acquainted with each other when I visited Opelucid City during my vacation so we simply exchanged simple greetings and that was it.
"Just call me Flannery," Flannery returned the gesture with a grin. Soon, we were seated around a table in another separate meeting room with a detailed map of Opelucid City spread across it. As the Gym Leader and the mayor of the city, Drayden is very intimately familiar with the layout of the city.
"Truth to be told, I'm surprised that they managed to hide such a huge and important stronghold from me when I had just finished a sweep in my city. But, this place where they built their hideout," Drayden pointed to the specific spot on the map and we could all see the geography of the place at a glance, "is both advantageous and disadvantageous to them."
"There's only one way in or out no matter how you look at it, if we discount things like teleportation, flight, or underground transportation," Flannery easily picked out Drayden's unsaid words. "We could choke them in their hideout and just burn it down."
"My sentiments exactly," Drayden nodded. "My only concern is that there might be innocent civilians in there that we are not aware of. Remember the mass disappearances and kidnapping of Ability Holders recently?"
"You think this might be where they hold them?" Looker asked.
"It's a possibility," Drayden admitted. "As much as I'm ashamed to say this, the Unova League still hasn't fully accounted for the missing Ability Holders which were reported as missing. We are speculating that there's still a group of them being held prisoners somewhere, being kept alive until Team Plasma decides to commit organ theft."
"The mortality rate of the victims after undergoing their procedures is almost at a hundred percent," I recited what I remembered from the briefing earlier. If there are indeed abductees being kept prisoners there, then they are in a very precarious situation.
"If there are hostages we cannot just burn the place down," Looker agreed. "Is this why Velda and I are assigned here? As Ghost Specialists, we are good at sneaking around."
"Ghost Specialist?" Flannery looked at me as though she was seeing me for the first time and I shrugged my shoulders. Actually, I still have no idea if I should define myself as a Generalist or as a Ghost Specialist seeing as how deep I had delved into learning about Ghost types as of late.
"That is one consideration we had," Drayden affirmed. "The League and the Gilmart family will also provide their full assistance on that day so manpower wise, I believe we are well-covered. We just need to go through the hostage rescue protocols on the assumption that there might be imprisoned civilians to rescue on that day, and also how we could prevent the Plasmas from escaping our grasp."
"We can block their escape routes with Darktycin technology. Since they love to use it so much, we can let them have a taste of their own medicine. The surrounding terrain makes it easy to deploy Darktycin, there's no reason not to use it."
"I'm in agreement," Drayden readily agreed to Looker's suggestion. "My dragons will keep a lookout for any possible escapes through underground and I will have my Gym Trainers keep a lookout for the skies. Once Looker and Velda confirm that no other hostages are in their base, we can then hit it with everything we got and burn it to the ground. Flannery, your firepower will be needed then."
"Leave it to me."
Plans were quickly hashed out. Drayden's experience that came with age really showed frmo how he seamlessly came up with plans to cover all bases that we could possibly think of. Looker's experience in conducting espionage ops was displayed when he offered a few proposals of how we could possibly infiltrate the Opelucid hideout after Drayden briefed him in greater detail of the geography of the surrounding area. Flannery's expertise in large scale raids also came into play when she gave several good suggestions that none of us thought of.
Gym Leaders are the apex and the very representation of a region's might. They are the best a region has to offer. When you put three people of such calibre and skill together, it feels as if there is no limit to the things that they could possibly achieve.
As for me, I just have to make sure that I play my part well and not be a liability because that is my role. I'm still ways off from being able to stand on the same level as they do.
"What a looong day," Flannery sighed and stretched her arms upwards as we made our exit after we were finally done with the meeting. She and Norman had only just arrived here in Unova late last night and had immediately come over to participate in this important meeting after a few hours of sleep. She didn't have much rest.
"Where are you and Norman staying?"
"Some high class hotel that the Unova League arranged for us. Oh, come to think about it, do you still have extra rooms over at your place? Vance said that there should still be rooms but I'm not sure if his words could be trusted."
"He will be so hurt if he heard you say that," I laughed, "but yes, there are still free rooms available. Actually, you can just use his room. Norman can come over too and I'm planning to invite Volkner and Jasmine as well, assuming that they want to join us."
"Sounds fun."
"It will be."
Character and pokemon list:
Velda Vera, Age: 14, Female, Pokemon Trainer, Member of the International Police
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