"Rather harsh wasn't it?" Byron asked with a sigh. I shrugged "Maybe, but it was either this or needlessly harming her pokemon." I said calmly. The girl in question had decided that perhaps it might in fact be best if she didn't push her luck after this and left. Not to say that I could blame her as from my understanding the Wataru clan were the most sensitive to murderous intent after generations of training the most likely to try and kill you typing in the world.-
Hades wasn't playing around just now, if I gave the go ahead it wouldn't have hesitated to rip the girl apart with glee. Clearly she picked that up and it got through her head that she may in fact have chosen a rather poor target. "In any case come in and we'll have a nice chat, I am rather curious as to why you are here in Sinnoh after all." Byron said before walking back into the gym. The gym was clearly steel themed with shiny metal plates all over the place and even moving gears that decorated the arena.-
"Rather on the nose isn't it?" I asked casually as we walked. Byron laughed "I would have modeled it after iron island but then it would have looked like a rock or ground type gym so this was the second best option." he said with a grin. "Makes sense, it must be hard having to split your time between here and the island like this." I said nodding. "It has it's challenges. Most of the time though I can handle it but recently crimes been up in the region and it's been more stressful than normal." he said with a slight frown.-
"Well the good news is that now that I'm here that should ease up unless these criminals didn't learn from the events of my time in Hoenn." I said with a little bit of an edge to my voice. I had a particularly large amount of distaste for team galactic based entirely on the game I played involving them. Cyrus was a madman of the worst sort as he was delusional enough to genuinely believe he was going to "fix" this "broken" world. I'll be the first to admit that it's not perfect, after spending nearly two years in this world and traveling all over an entire region putting down scum and dealing with issues I can freely admit this.-
But compared to what it COULD be like with the superpowered, sentient monsters and literal godly beings this place may as well be a paradise. Sure the worst parts of humanity still reared their ugly heads and criminals had new and not so great ways of creating suffering but humanity as a whole in this world was brighter and better than on earth. It almost made me wonder how Cyrus would react to being thrust into the environment of earth if he thought this place needed to be erased.-
'Ah who am I kidding that guy would definitely off himself the moment he realized that there was no way to "fix" that place since there was no convenient deus ex machina red chain to shackle a god that may or may not even exist.' I thought with a chuckle imagining it. "I don't know if I should be relieved or concerned with that statement. While I personally find your "methods" unsettling I also can't deny their effectiveness." Byron said honestly. "It's only normal for people to dislike what anyone does. You can't make everyone happy but you can certainly help make them safe enough to express their discontent."-
"It's kinda like how despite team rocket being a big problem in Johto and Kanto the locals there clam up if you ask about it. They are so afraid of reprisal from team rocket that they won't even make what they think known, a sad state of affairs in my opinion." I said firmly. "You probably don't know yet but there was actually some talk amongst the league about trying to lure you over there to take care of that particular issue. It got rather .... heated before that whole incident with Rota you caused." he said seriously.-
"Let me guess, the leaders from Johto and Kanto were particularly vocal about keeping me out of their regions, something about them needing to deal with their own problems right?" I asked and he almost tripped in shock. "How did you know?" he asked stupefied. I sighed "it's the way team rocket acts, like the law simply won't come after them. Criminals only act that way in two cases, the first is that they are stupid or overconfident. The second is the most likely case however, they have serious backing from the league itself."-
"Could be leaders, elite four or even the champion himself though I doubt it given Lances nature. Point is a criminal organization of that size doesn't get that way acting the way it has without serious backing." I said seriously and he looked mortified as he quickly realized that what I said made perfect sense. No doubt that the idea that the criminal team had backing had crossed through the leagues mind more than once but the very idea that someone IN the league would be the backer had never been considered.-
I had to hand it to Giovanni, the man was good at covering up any "coincidences" that would help expose him or his associates. He of course couldn't cover everything as that would in fact draw more attention but just enough that no one would put the pieces together easily was more than doable. "Speculation isn't enough to launch an accusation like that, but you know that already don't you?" he asked sternly. I nodded "I do, yes. Perhaps i'm wrong but even you must admit that it certainly fits." I said calmly and he nodded with a frown. "Uncomfortably well in fact. How could we have not seen it until now?" he asked seriously.-
"You can't be blamed really. Nobody ever wants to think that their comrades, their friends for many years have betrayed everything they are supposed to stand for. So despite this clear evidence that it is the case you turn a blind eye to it and search for another answer that simply doesn't exist. Cruel as it is fate has a bad habit of making ones worst fears the truth in such matters." I say honestly. "So it was our own trust in our comrades that betrayed us in the end, a rather disheartening prospect if I'm being honest." he said a little depressed.