My choice ought to have been obvious from the beginning. The first pokemon was an obvious steel type so Igneel had that covered. The second was a dragon/dark type, so my choice was even more obvious. Tsunade. She wasn't experienced enough that I felt completely comfortable, but she would have way too many advantages for me to sideline her in this battle.
She appeared in the clearing with a confused look, and turned to me after seeing the pokemon in front of her. She'd only ever battled fellow members of the team so I couldn't fault her for her confusion in this instance. It was understandable and even expected.
"Hey, Tsunade. These guys are team rocket. We'll be battling them. Don't hold back" I added the last part as an afterthought to confirm one of the theories I had. Tsunade gained a determined look in her eyes. We'd explained Team Rocket and what they stood for to her, and she was none too pleased at the thought of them or the99ir activities.
She turned to them with clenched fists, and I relayed my strategy to Igneel. Before the women in front of me could even figure out what would be happening next, Igneel fired a small blast burn straight at the steel type. It's protect prevented the move from making direct contact but that wasn't the point. Protect was a powerful move, but it did little to protect from estoric or incidental effects. Like the heat from a fire type move.
The reason steel types were weak to fire types was because they actually werem't all steel. They had small layers of organic matter behind multiple layers of highly dense steel. The heat from fire type moves essentially cooked those layers of organic matter, and the steel trapped that heat in, making it harger for them to cool off.
With the steel type behind a protect, Igneel kept the heat dialled up to eleven to make sure it felt it. Multiple fire balls went flying at the steel ty[e at blazing fast speeds.
Tsunade wasn't idle either, and went rushing at the nightmare pokemon ahead of us. It fired multiple shadow balls, but clever uses of minimize allowed her flow around the moves with little difficulty. Her speed had grown with constant use of Igneel's old training weights.
The Hydreigon flew up to avoid a punch she'd sent at it that managed to crack the tree behind it in half. I could only smile at having my theory confirmed. Tsunade didn't enjoy causing harm. Sure, she found battling to be as fun as my other pokemon did, but she never actually put her all intpo it like Igneel was prone to. Telling her not to hold back seems to have broken whatever block prevented her from using her full power against her team mates in spars.
"Metronome" I barked out before the Hydreigon could gather itself for an attack of its own. Simple sounds came issuing from her mouth as she moved her finger around. It was said that strong enough members of the Clefable line could essentially chose what moves they ended up using with metronome. I hadn't found any truth to those rumours, but as a massive flash cannon came blasting out of her outstretched fingers, I could see where the rumours were coming from.
A protect built up and shattered around the Hydreigon in response to her move. Some bits of the move still hit the burly dragon, but it tanked it withpout problem and came rushing at her with the aura of dragon rush around it. Another minimize allowed her dodge the move with little difficulty.
The steel type had broken out of Igneel's bombardment wih a clever use of dig. Now, they were playing a game of keepaway. It was good at dodging Igneel's moves with its fearsome speed and presence, but it could barely hit at my dragon type either. Having to face off against a flying opponent with essentially unlimited firepower clearly wasn't something it had been trained for.
I turned to look at my opponents as the various battles raged on. They watched on with lazy smiles, and I wondered what could possibly be amusing them, given they were clearly losing this battle.
"Switch" Lefty shoutewd with an insane cackle, and I felt my heart run cold. Both of their pokemon carried out the order instantly. The Hydreigon gave up on trying to catch Tsunade and barrelled into Igneel with a dragon rush.
The Bisharp, for that's what it had to be, used it's sudden freedom to jump at Tsunade, with the intention of skewering her through with one of its blades. She dodged the surprise attack at Igneel and the Hydreigon slammed into the ground at extreme speeds.
Even as they landed, they were still brawling with each other. As the child of a champion level Dragonite, Igneel was intent on not being dominated by the dark dragon on top of him. They rolled across the ground in a blur of teeth and claws, with defeaning roars coming from each of them in attempts at dominating the other.
"Minimize, flamethrower" I commanded Tsunade as the Bisharp continued its chase of her. She ducked under one of its hands by reducing her size, and inhaled a short breath before firing a point-blank flamethrower into its side. The steel/dark type took the move like a pro, and attacked her with its other hand. She was still able to roll away from the move and I thanked the Cleffa line's penchant for dancing for the umpteenth time this evening.
Her dancing skill and experience allowed her to make truly impressive dodges that had even me dumbfounded. So far, she was the only pokemon on the field to not be hit by any attacks. Igneel and the Hydreigon seemed content to wrestle on the ground, but it didn't take a genius to see Igneel was losing, slowly but surely. His frame was more lithe. I'd trained him for speed and massive firepower, not physical strength, which seemed to be exactly what the burly dragon on top of him had been bred for.
A quick flex of my aura, and when the Hydreigon roared over Igneel's suddenly still form, it found its mouth filled with a ball of fire. As it went reeling to cough up the burning embers, Igneel slammed into it with a dragon rush. Unlike the Hydreigon's own rush, Igneel only succeeded in driving the dark dragon back a few steps. That gave him the distance to take to the air though.
Massive fireballs lit up the already bright clearing and probably looked like fireworks to the citizens of Pallet town a few miles away.
Tsunade sent a reflexive punch into the steel type's side after he attempted another swing at her, but that's where she messed up. It had anticipated the move, and moved its hand to grab hers before she could retreat from the attack.
"Minimize" I screamed at the top of my lungs, but it was too late. A powerful stab from one of the Bisharp's blades went right through her gut. I screamed as she did. In pain, in anger, in everything in-between. I still had no idea what happened next. I was lost in a haze as the Bisharp was sent flying though the treeline by a pissed off Hakomo-o.
I saw nothing as a Tyranitar's roar shook the very earth and an earthquake the likes of nothing ever seen before levelled the forest around us to prevent the Bisharp from hiding. I didn't hear it when all the water in the pond a few miles from us rushed into the clearing and surrounded a roaring Hydreigon with intent to drown it.
I didn't feel the hair on my skin stand on ends when a massive bolt of lightning slammed into the water surrounding the Hydreigon, shocking it to kingdom come. I sensed none of it, as I knelt in front of my bleeding pokemon. I looked at her and could see nothing but Quicksilver's cold lifeless body.
I looked at my dying fairy and felt pain beyond pain. The pain of Quicksilver, combined with the pain I felt now. It all came crashing down on me as I looked at her. With all my attention on her, I didn't sense Oak teleport into the clearing. I felt Alakazam try to detach me from her but I resisted as I would always resist. Nothing would separate me from her in this moment. This key moment. After that, I knew nothing but black.
XXXXXX- POV CHANGE- THE RESEARCHER
I had no idea why he was meeting them here. They usually retreated to his office to discuss things like this, but I suspected he was too pissed to care at the moment.
"You lost. To a boy. A child" His voice was low and his words came out clearly. That's how I knew he was truly pissed off. The twin that was always on the right blanched at his tone, but the other was too daft to understand what was coming for her.
"We didn't lose, bossman. We took out one of his pokemon and the fucker cheated. We had everything in control, but something broke the blackout field you taught Umbreon, and Oak showed up." She said in that easy-going tone of hers that did nothing to hide the depths of her insanity.
Giovanni found the twins to be useful, but I could see them for what they were. He thought he controlled them, but I knew they would never be controlled. A more insane pair of women has never been seen on the planet.
"Of course Oak showed up. You had a massive pokemon battle on the outskirts of his fucking town. I told you to kill the boy quickly if he refused the offer, not to battle him." Giovanni was taking deep breaths at this point. Possibly to avoid lashing out at the twins. He could show his anger at the rest of us, no problem, but perhaps he understood that even he wasn't completely safe from the monsters he'd created.
Humans blended with dark type energy from conception to birth. A bad idea if I'd ever heard one, but the impostor was sure it could be done, and Giovanni had forced the abominations across from him to be produced by mine own hands.
"What was his reply to the offer? Why did he refuse? Everything we have on him says he'd be extremely willing to join us, if only to assert his independence from his father." As their faces began to subtly shift, he asked the question on my mind, "You gave him the pitch I gave you, right?"
Both women looked at each other before saying "Of course we did, boss" at the exact same time. I didn't need to be a psychic to know they were lying.
Giovanni just gave them a look and I could honestly say he looked like he might soon begin pulling his hair. "Out" he said with a snarl and the twins were smart enough to take off before the boss did something drastic.
"And Mewtwo?" He asked me with a look on his face that promised nothing good if I gave a reply he didn't like. Another reason why he would never be the great leader he thought himself as. Transferring aggression does not a good leader make.
"It's all going well. I think we'll only need one or two more attempts to get the perfection we seek" I replied with a placid smile. One or two more attempts. If only I'd be here for them.
"I see. Don't fail me. You know what will happen if you do" he said while stalking from the lab. Finally. That bastard was gone. I turned to the keyboard in front of me and continued typing. This next version had so much riding on it. Perhaps even my own life. I couldn't fail. Not in this. Too much was riding on it.
XXXXXX- POV CHANGE – THE PROFESSOR
Donnell had been in a bad state when I found him in the forest. Even now, just thinking of it brought rage to my bones. To imagine team rocket would have the audacity to pull an attack like that in my very own backyard. Giovanni was truly getting too bold. I might as well give him a call and a reminder of who gave him the initial capital for this mess of his.
Even now, I felt something resembling regret when I thought of the organization. I'd been sold on it when Blaine and Giovanni first pitched it to me. Ground-breaking research on human-pokemon relations. Trying to breach the most sacred of boundaries. I thought they'd fail, but I was still interested in seeing what knowledge could be gained from those inevitable failures.
As I turned to the bed in front of me, I thought of the ofer Giovanni had come up with about sixteen years ago. Staring at my son told me it was worth it. Accepting his offer was worth it back then, but if he ever dared to touch my son again, then death would be the least of his worries. His pain would be legendary.
Thinking about it increased my anger once more. Perhaps Giovanni needed something more than a vague warning. Perhaps he needed a reminder to be sure he never pulled anything like this again. The more I thought of it, the more I couldn't find any reasons not to give a minor warning to the men I'd helped so much. If I wasn't sure they'd take me down with them, then the league would have been my next calling point, but since mutually assured destruction was he height of illogicality, I'd keep my silence for now.
'Silence, not inaction' I thought as I swept from the lab room I'd paced Donnell and his team in. My walk outside gave me nothing but time to decide a target. By the time I was at the door to the ranch, what remained of my team was assembled before me. Alakazam was frighteningly good at what he did.
"Someone has tried to take from us. To take our son" I said the last part with a snarl, and I watched them roar in anger as they felt as I did. Someone would pay for today's insult.
The entire team returned to their balls, and I grabbed on to Alakazam as we prepared to teleport towards our target. A flex of incredible psychic might had us standing on the outskirts of the Fuchsia wilderness. This was one of the larger, more important bases the organization used for their activities. It was also one of the bases Giovanni hadn't told me about. Today's warning would be two-fold.
Nidoking appeared in front of me with a flash of red light and a psychic connection formed between us the moment he did. I watched him step forward to the underground base and let out the strongest earthquake he could muster. Alakazam already had me floating above the ground before I could even say anything, and I smiled at him in pride.
The ground rumbled and tore itself apart. The rockets came swarming from the base out of fear for their lives. I stood floating in the air in front of them and it took them as a shameful amount of time to notice either me or Nidoking. When they did, I had to applaud their bravery as they sent out pokemon of their own to attempt opposing this.
Dragonite was out of his ball with a flick of my wrist, and a single draco metoer took out every zubat, or rattata or whatever inane pokemon these foold thought to oppose me with. Alakazam prevented them from registering my face in their minds just as Donnell's mysterious poacher's Alakazam had done all those months ago. It was truly a fascinating technique.
They started running for the hills, and I stayed Dragonite's hand. He was as angry as I was, but I wasn't here for senseless slaughter. I patiently waited for one of Giovanni's so-called admins to show up to challenge my presence, but none of them ever did and I could only sigh with irritation as I forced to go into their nest to fish them out.
Another flick of my wrist had Machamp out of his ball. He was the very best at fighting in confined spaces, so I walked into the underground base with my head held high and my pokemon by my side. My mercy had run dry on the surface, so every grunt we came across had their necks snapped in a savage display of psychic might. Alakazam was a truly impressive specimen.
It took a few minutes for me to come across one of the men that was dressed in black. I smiled and sent Machamp forward to deal with his resistance. His shameful excuse for a Golem died with two quick punches, and the dragon's rush from his obviously untrained Dragonair was tanked with brute force and the dragon's neck was snapped after a few more seconds.
Machamp could be truly frightening. His efficiency was something else. The admin turned to my approaching pokemon, and lifted another pokeball, but it was too late as my fighting type grabbed on to the offending limb and crushed it, before sending a fist through the boy's head. 'shameful' was all I thought after I realized the base was already done with.
I turned around and took off from the base with a calm walk.
I was unsurprised to find Giovanni on the surface with two of those admins of his by his side. "Boy, I hope you understand the warning I'm giving you here. Try to touch what's mine again, and nothing will remain of your organization."
The anger in his face was beautiful to see. Good, he felt something similar to what I did. He threw out a pokeball and sent out a pokemon I couldn't recognize. The smile on his face told me exactly all I needed to know about this particular pokemon. He felt it strong enough to match us to my team. An impertinent bastard Giovanni might be, but a fool, he was not.
If he legitimately believed he could measure up to me with this pokemon, then I'd give it the benefit of the doubt and take it as a serious threat.
A single dragon rage from Dragonite gave me even more information than Giovanni's confiudence did. It splashed against a barrier surrounding the pokemon with little effect. Normally, I'd have Dragonite take his time, tease the pokemon so I could get every scrap of information I could from it before taking it out, but today was about sending a message.
In between one second and the next, Dragonite had his tail wrapped around the obvious psychic type's neck. My Dragonite was the strongest pokemon in the world. It was foolish of Giovanni to believe some new acquisition of his could match up to the mightiest of dragons.
A flex of that tail snapped the unnamed pokemon's neck and sent it to the floor. I only smiled at Giovanni in satisfaction as I noted the anger on his face.
"Consider this the last warning I'll ever give you. I've tolerated your blight on the league because you'd never had the audacity to be truly harmful, but today you tried to take something of mine. You tried to touch my son, Giovanni. The next time you have the audacity to do so, I'll burn you and your organization to the ground. Whatever information you feel you have on me won't matter. Mutually assured destruction won't matter. Touch my son, Giovanni, and I will end you." With my warning delivered, Alakazam teleported me and the team back to the lab.
"Thank you, brothers" I said, and they all embraced me as one of them. I knew Charizard would be pissed off at not getting to participate, but as I released him into the ranch, that problem would be Dragonite's to deal with.
I walked back into the lab to wait for Donnell to wake up. After a few minutes, I felt restless so I decided to do some study. A few scanners had been set up around him, so I went to my personal lab to look at the results of the scans of him and his team.
The team was nothing surprising. He was my son, after all. They were all healthy and strong. Their muscle density was also impressive to note. Maybe in a few months, he'd even be ready to train with me for the conference. Not with Dragonite, of course, but Charizard was always in need of new sparring partners. Maybe kicking around Donnell's team for a few minutes each day would settle his mood.
I turned to his own scans and found myself dumbfounded. When he was born, I'd seen the dormant signs. His birth was deemed a failure, but now, it was active. He showed strains and signs of pokemon energy in his brain, the rest of his body wasn't far behind. Maybe this explained his relationship with his pokemon. How he could communicate with them without psychic connections.
I looked at the scans with a critical eye, ignoring the health data to focus on the information I sought. To think we had to wait sixteen years to see the fruits of this experiment. Our attempt at building the perfect pokemon trainer had been successful. If Giovanni hadn't overstepped, then maybe I'd have even shared news of our success with him.
I woke up in a bed that had become extremely familiar to Donnell in his younger days. I could tell where I was simply from the feel of the foam beneath me. The lab on the first floor. Oak's private lab that had also doubled as a hospital room for me in my younger days.
I wondered why I was here for a few minutes before it all came rushing in. I felt myself choke as tears built on my eyes. Tsunade. She'd been the happiest in the group. The most joyful by miles and she was gone. I cursed it all. Giovanni, team rocket, Oak, me. We were all to blame. Me, most of all.
I knew she wasn't ready. I knew it and all I saw was the type advantage. All I felt was the desire to dominate my opponents. To prove I was superior. I thought of myself as a purely rational actor, but my actions that night were the exact opposite of rational. I could have escaped. There were a thousand ways I could have left that ambush without a fight, but I didn't even consider the possibility of fleeing. It didn't come to mind as even the most fleeting of thoughts. All I saw was opponents in front of me that I needed to overcome.
My pride had cost me the price I was most unwilling to pay. Quicksilver's death hadn't been my fault, but this? I was to blame and that fact was clear from the beginning. My tears turned to full blown sobs as I mourned another one of my pokemon. At this point, there were few things I wouldn't give to see her again.
I don't know when I fell asleep again, but when I came to, it was to find Oak leaning right above me with a flashlight pointed at my eye. I leaned out of his grip and shot him a look of irritation. I couldn't get to say what was on my mind because I noticed the pokemon behind him. My entire team was gazing down on me with worried looks. My entire team. I stared at Tsunade's whole and living form like I was seeing a ghost.
She jumped across the space between us and I caught her with a scream of joy. I cared little for my state and jumped off the bed to swing her around in pure joy. She was alive! I don't think there's any news that could come close to making me as happy as this piece did.
I held her in my arms as tightly as I dared and the rest of the team took the opportunity to come crowding around me. Kenpachi lifted me up with a single hand and sniffed me a bit as if making sure I was ok before he let go of me and went to a corner of the room to watch. Broly was at my back like a silent protector. Kisame wrapped her body around mine like a boa constrictor. Hashirama and Snorlax stayed at my sides and looked content. Magnezone kept trying to zap Kenpachi while he flew about the room in excitement. Gaiwas silent and watching both Tsunade and I with a worried expression on his face.
Igneel was the only one not close. He was at a far off corner of the room, looking as miserable as he ever had. Even though I felt content with my team as we were now, I knew I had to talk to Igneel. Get to the bottom of his bad move.
I managed to extract myself from the pile of pokemon after a few minutes and I walked over to my sad dragon. As I got closer, I watched him become even sadder and adopt a remorseful look on his face. I walked right up to him and ignored the pain I knew was coming as I wrapped him in the tightest hug I dared. It felt like hugging a furnace but I bore the heat well and managed to hold on to him even as he hugged me back.
It didn't take a genius to figure out the reason for his bad news. Ok, that might be a bit untrue. Aura fuckery allowed me read my pokemon like books. He felt guilty for both Tsunade's and my injuries. The team crowded around Igneel and I, and I allowed myself to truly feel content.
XXXXXX
"I take it you've finished your reunion" Oak said as he walked into the room with a glass of water held in his hands. I thanked him as he passed it to me and I took a greedy drink of it. Hadn't realized how thirsty I'd been before the first drop of the cool water ran down my throat.
"Thanks for rescuing me" I said, addressing the elephant in the room.
"You have nothing to be thankful for. What father wouldn't help his son" I swallowed the urge to talk about exactly what kind of father he was. That pain was Donnell's, but I was now beginning to accept that Donnell wasn't as completely gone as I'd once thought. He still existed behind my conscious mind. I felt his wants and desires affect mine all the time.
Perhaps he saw something of my thoughts on my face because his next words were, "I know I haven't always been the best father, but one day, maybe you'll realize that all I do, I do for reasons greater than either of us." I gave him a confused look. The fuck was he going on about.
"Never mind that though, I have been remiss in my duties as a father, and now I want to apologize. I failed you, in more ways than one. I allowed you leave here all those months ago, completely on your own. Perhaps some part of me thought that if I didn[t help you on your quest, then you might give up and return to me of your own volition, but now I realize how untrue that is. You are indeed my son, all I've raised you to be" He took a breath and paused. I couldn't see where he was going with this failed apology.
"Now, I realize how wrong I've been. Allow me atone for my mistakes. You still have quite a few months till the conference. Train with me till then." He ended with a hopeful look on his face.
"No." I said simply and turned to the screen in front of me. I didn't see the hope die on his face as he left the room in disappointment, quite frankly, I cared little for it. I'd sworn all those months ago that I would make it to the top without his help. I would be DONNELL oak, not donnell OAK. The professor might have even meant his apology, but I cared nothing for it. I'd made it this far without him. I could get to the finish line on my own.
I was startled by a bright light off to the side, and I turned to see Ino had just teleported in. Her mind and mine became one for a few seconds, and she saw what had just happened, and I could feel her disagreement.
'Accept it' She said in my mind like it was the simplest thing in the world. I shook my head strongly and showed her all the memories I had of Oak's neglect, of all the times people assumed the fruits of mine and the team's hard work were all blessings from the great Samuel Oak.
'When you train me, and I battle, do I win, or do you?' She asked in at blunt tone of hers.
"It's not the same and you know it" I replied with a scowl building on my face.
She couldn't understand it. Oak had done so much. He couldn't just fix years of neglect and mistreatment with an offer to train.
'He's offering to start at least'. Her logic was sound and maybe that's what irritated me the most. The knowledge that she might ber right. She couldn't understand though. If we take his help here, then that just meant I was nothing. Nothing but a product of the legendary Samuel Oak.
'Is your pride so important to you?' she asked, unknowingly echoing a train of thought I'd had just a day ago. My pride. The thing that had risked Tsunade's life. Was this all for my pride? I gave Ino a look as I truly considered it.
Would this be for the good of my pokemon? Yes. Oak might be many things, but none could call him an incompetent trainer. He'd built a champion-level team, and that meant something. What ended up making my mind for me was a simple question. 'Would I be able to live with myself if one of my pokemon died because I refused Oak's training?' The answer to that particular query was a clear and resounding no.
I'd promised to not let my pride risk the lives of my pokemon ever again as I mourned Tsunade, and even though, she was alright, that didn't mean my promise was any less binfing than it would have been if she was truly dead. I couldn't let my pride get in the way of this. I turned to Ino and gave her a nod to show my acceptance of her words. She was right.
I got up from the bed and made my way to Oak's lab. That was the only place he was guaranteed to be. He looked up, surprised as I made my way inside.
"I'll accept your training" I said and watched as a smile bloomed on his face. In that moment, I could truly appreciate how much we looked alike.
"But I have some conditions" I continued.
"Speak them" He said, while still smiling like the cat that caught the canary.
"You do the training yourself. No pawning me off to a lab assistant or something-"
"I would never do that" He interrupted, and I merely gave him a look. We both know he'd pawned off most of my upbringing to various lab assistants through the years.
"Secondly, I want your 100%. When we're training, we're training. No research, no consideration, nothing. I want you to give it your all. No holding back." I said and waited for his reply.
"Since you have conditions, I have only one of my own" He said and I waited for him to speak his own condition.
"Your sponsorship with Silph. End it. You are Donnell Oak of this lab. You need no other sponsors." He said like that was the end of it.
"No." I said and enjoyed the way his eyes went wide in surprise. "You never once offered to sponsor me when I was starting out. Whenever I raised the matter, you brushed me off. I won't take your sponsorship. I don't want it. I've given my terms. Are you in?" I asked and watched him scowl for a few seconds before he brightened up and gave me a nod.
XXXXXX
"As a trainer, you've been a complete mess." Oak decided to start our first session with his regular bluntness. I tried to avoid getting offended and only raised an eyebrow at his statement.
"Don't get me wrong, your pokemon are powerful and talented. You're the weak link. It's clear for everyone to see in how you battle, and even in how you trained them. You have a passable grasp of basic tactics and have been able to come up with a few good ideas every once in a while to save yourself from defeat, but beyond that, you've been for all intents and purposes a rookie trainer. That would be fine, even expected, if you had a rookie trainer's team. But you don't. Somehow you've managed to build a team of powerful pokemon around you, and that is as much a blessing as it is a curse." He stopped to take a sip of the water beside him before heading right back into his rant.
"If you had a weaker team, then your flaws would have become obvious to you ages ago and you would have worked to fix them. THere's a reason why every trainer starts with a young starter pokemon. Both trainer and pokemon are supposed to learn and develop together. That allows them both to be much much stronger for it. You, on the other hand have managed to build a team of strong pokemon without developing yourself. It's the kind of problem I never thought I'd have to see. Pokemon only become strong under a strong trainer, after all. Since you've put the cart before the horse, we'll be spending the next few months more focused on you than your pokemon."
I got ready to cut him off at that, but he spoke over my attempt with ease. "You are the thing holding your pokemon back. There is no training that I can give your pokemon that will allow them match up while you still lead them, but I can train you to be truly worthy of them. To utilise every bit of power and skill they have to offer with precision and talent. Don't worry about your pokemon though. My team hasn't been entertained in a small eternity. They'll keep them in shape."
I nodded at what he said even though I didn't really understand his point about the difference between training me and training my pokemon. How else could he train me, but by having me battle with my pokemon.
"Now, five laps around the ranch" He said suddenly and I looked at him in shock till I had to swerve around a jumping growlithe. Oak's face was a picture of amusement as I took to my heels, chased by a pack of playing Growlithe.
XXXXXX- The Champion
"Multiple attacks. We almost saw Celadon fall the same way Vermillion did. A tournament that was supposed to announce the exploration of the league weas interrupted, and now we have a fire storm raging across the forests of Fuchsia. Do you truly want to tell us all these things aren't related?" I asked the head of the ACE trainers across from me.
ACE were the best of the best, but right now, they didn't feel like anything of the sort with this sudden display of incompetence. Vermillion's attack, Celadon's mess and even the Fuchsia disaster…all events that would be enough to unsettle the public for a year, and they all happened within the same quarter. At this point, it was a surprise that the region was yet to devolve into total anarchy.
The league was shown close to no ability to protect the people and they were seeing it surely and clearly. Dozens dead in a few months, and no leads on the possible culprit or culprits.
The only thing we had going so far was a name, Team Rocket. Our prisoners from the attack on the SIlph tournament said little willingly, but the authorization to use psychic power to pluck the information out of their brains came quickly and readily. The only issue was the two 'admins', as the other rockets knew them as. Their minds were heavily warded against intrusion, and the only way to break those barriers was by shattering the mind itself. It was easy to get authorization to scan their minds, but authorization to essentially kill them would not be forthcoming.
The courts had denied my request before even considering the potential value of the information these admins could have. THe grunts knew nothing of the attack on Vermillion, but half of them believed it to have been the organization acting through other tools. The admins would probably be the only ones who knew for sure. Once again, I lamented not being in Blackthorne. The elder would never hesitate like these weak Kantoans were insistent on doing.
The answers were right in our reach, and they lacked the balls to take them. I would have overruled them and gone ahead with the scan, but even my elite four were against doing what was necessary. Weakness was part and parcel of Kanto.
"So far, apart from the suspicions of the members of the Criminal organisation known as Team ROcket, we have nothing to connect any two of the incidents. I am simply suggesting that it would be more prudent to act as though all the attacks were seperate events in and of themselves. It prevents us from making assumptions that might hinder the apprehension of any of the suspects."
I see. He was speaking sense. "And what has your investigation into the fire yielded?" I asked to get things moving and be over and done with things. He didn't sound like he had any leads for me to test myself against, so he might as well offer up what he did find.
"We have been able to find that the fire was no accident. Although the suspicion was never taken seriously, we have now found conclusive evidence that the fire was caused by multiple fire type pokemon acting in concert. It was a deliberate attack. Of that we have no doubts. We've also been able to isolate the starting point of the fire and have managed to find a collapsed underground chamber. It was too ruined to obtain any useful information from, but it does offer a hint as to why the fires were started." He trailed off at the end with a swift salute.
I turned to my elite four and found them all considering the report. We'd all known the fire was no accident. It had spread too quickly to have been anything less than intentional, but the knowledge that thre had been some underground chamber in the forest was worrying. I was tempted to snicker as I thought of Koga combing through every inch of the forest and looking under every stone as he searched for more bases. The man was too much of himself to do anything less.
"Thank you for your report, agent." The president finally spoke when it was clear no one had any further questions for the man. We ended the meeting there and I left with a lot pon my mind.