INTERLUDE - FALLOUT

Cynthia Collins sat in a dusty office full of spreadsheets, ledgers and reports. After a heavy breath, she stood up, paced around the room and stretched. These chairs had terrible lumbar supports and were killing her back. Aaron and Lucian were with her, of course, as they’d been for the few days. In fact, they’d been together so much that both of them had stopped their endless bickering. Alakazam peered over a levitating piece of paper with his usual angry sneer.

And by bickering, it was mostly Aaron trying to get under Lucian’s skin and him being completely immune to whatever the youngest Elite Four member threw at him. Aaron had a brilliant mind, but he was distracted very easily, which made creating a plan to solve Solaceon’s economic crisis a headache-inducing process. Sometimes, Cynthia wished she could take another year off like she’d done when she had gone to study Unova’s political system for inspiration when she’d been trying to reform Sinnoh’s. It was where she had caught her last few Pokemon, more than a decade ago now. Her diplomatic trip to the region had been a monumental event at the time and Sinnoh still had very good relations with Unova because of it. Of course, the same couldn’t be said with Kanto-Johto, but things were slowly improving and were nowhere as bad as they had been under her predecessor. Maybe a trip to Hoenn would do her some good when Team Galactic was finally dealt with.

Oh, to be on those beaches…

“Look, I’m no economist, but Solaceon’s got to diversify first and foremost,” Aaron said, tapping at a paper. “We’ve cut spending across the board, but we’re still in the red by… how much?”

Four point five billion Pokedollars, Alakazam’s voice rang out. I have already laid out my two-hundred-and-fifty-six-step plan to fix this deficit. Any more time spent here is a waste of my time, and you know I despise it when people waste my time.

Cynthia smirked at the psychic type. “Your plan treats people like numbers, not like living, human beings. Take step five… putting Solaceon on lockdown to force people to stay? Your plan is unrealistic.”

It is not unrealistic, you just lack the will to implement it, The psychic said. Since I have done my piece, I will take my leave. I must get back to studying the Unown.

“Feel free to,” Lucian shrugged.

Aaron shrugged. “Talk about getting—”

Silence, pest. Just breathing in the same air as you makes me sick, Alakazam complained before teleporting away.

Well, all of Lucian’s Pokemon tended to be disinterested in human affairs, so they would be of no help. Some parts of Alakazam’s plan were sound, however, and she would still be able to make use of it.

“He must still be angry about that time I got him with that neat Super Speed trick with Yanmega,” Aaron said.

“Stop bragging about things that happened six months ago and get back to work,” Cynthia said. “Lucian, what do you think about Aaron’s idea? Diversifying?”

Lucian shook his head. “That’s more of a long-term plan. To put it in words, it would be like trying to dock a sinking rowboat while in the middle of the ocean instead of plugging the holes. Right now, we need to fix what is broken.”

Aaron sighed and Cynthia nodded. Lucian and Aaron were both smart in their own ways. while Flint and Bertha were the heart of the Elite Four, they were the brains. Lucian was better at looking at the bigger picture and creating long, intricate plans while Aaron focused on granular details and ran a lot of the day-to-day at the League.

“I’ve already called Vernon. He will start hammering out an emergency package for the city,” Lucian continued. “The plan is to cover the city’s costs for a year… which will be a heavy burden to bear, especially when it won’t pay for itself, but it must be done. We’ll have Hearthome and Veilstone bring in engineers and construction workers for the repairs. I have a list of companies that might be interested in the work, and they’ll have to bid on a contract.”

Lucian typed on his computer and printed out another piece of paper before handing it to Cynthia.

“I recommend to only let these three companies in on the bidding process. We could just award the contract to one of them, but…”

“But that’s dictatorial-ish, so we think it’d be a better idea to let the process go on as usual with negotiations and all of that— to at least give the illusion of deliberation,” Aaron finished the sentence. “You’ve used quite a lot of political capital already. Might want to cool off on that for a while.”

Oh, Cynthia knew that already. It was strange to her, how people could only see the faults in her actions after she’d saved Solaceon from an even worse tragedy. She had fired the entire political apparatus in the city and replaced it with loyalists, but that was only temporary, and it was needed for them to implement her plan without a fuss.

But Bertha had warned her when she had first become Champion. Dabbling in politics for too long changed people, and it made you see the world completely differently than the average person. Cynthia lingered on the thought for a second, but she knew that what she’d done was correct. Democracy was an ideal that she’d had her entire life, but it was often too slow at dealing with crises. Without her loyalists in the City Council, Mayor’s office, and Treasurer’s office, it would have taken the politicians there weeks to decide where to allocate the funds that the national government would give them. Cynthia had already seen it happen multiple times.

“Underhall Construction, Veilstone Holding, Timburr Co.,” she read out. “I’ve heard of the first two, but what in the world is Timburr Corporation?”

“They’re rather new and trying to make a name for themselves. They use a lot of Pokemon-based labor, so they’d be the cheapest option on the list. Underhall construction is based on Hearthome, and they’d be the safest, but slowest option to get the city rolling again. Veilstone Holding is the middle-of-the-road option, both in price and time, but with what’s been happening in the city, they’d be happy to get a chance at the job.”

“Maylene would appreciate it as well,” Aaron chimed in.

“Have you been speaking?” Cynthia asked.

“Nah, not really. I just get people,” he said.

It was true. Aaron’s ability to understand how people thought was better than even hers, which was why she considered him one of her possible successors when she retired. Of course, someone could also beat her in battle, but she doubted that would happen. Flint was out of the question. He was too rash, hotheaded and unserious to be in her position. Bertha was too old and would probably retire in the next ten years. Not every Elite Four member clung to power as much as Agatha. Lucian had no desire to rise any higher. She had to butter him up for months for him to even accept joining the Elite Four.

When a Champion retired willingly, they got to choose who would replace them, although it almost always was a member of the Elite Four that did so. Unova had more checks and balances to their system, but Cynthia wanted to keep the civilian government out of affairs as important as picking the Champion. Aaron might have been the weakest member of the Elite Four right now, but he was also the youngest. He was only nineteen and was progressing at a rapid pace. If age calmed him down and stopped him from getting distracted so easily, then Cynthia would have no doubts.

Time would tell what Aaron would become.

“Underhall Construction was in charge of building Canalave’s canal, correct? And Veilstone Holding ran the last expansion efforts for the city. What have Timburr Co. done?”

“Their most notable projects were building a new Contest Hall in Jubilife and renovating the city’s port.”

Cynthia hummed. “Well, contact the companies and start the bidding process. I trust that you two will be able to cooperate in evaluating the bids with the city officials?”

“It’s not like they’ll go against what we say. I said illusion of deliberation, remember?” Aaron said. “That’s step one. Now for step two.”

Lucian nodded. “You’ve called for diversification, but first, I think that we need to lean into wheat—”

“Hold on, I got a banger idea when you said wheat just now,” Aaron lifted a finger. “I agree with what you said, at least for the short term, but Solaceon’s not playing to its strengths. Sure, they’ve been selling, but not as much as they could be. Shipping things by plane and teleporting goods is expensive and inefficient. Hearthome and Oreburgh can do it because they’re rich, but Solaceon can’t exactly afford to do so, especially now that they’re going to be losing so much money. There’s the river system south of here that leads to the ocean, right? Why not use that to ship their produce?”

Cynthia thought for a second, visualizing the rivers he spoke about in her head. Hearthome and Solaceon had often rattled their sabers over the water rights there. Lucian was seemingly already done, however.

“Ah, that’s actually a great idea. Freight shipping will ease a lot of Solaceon’s burdens, but we’d have to invest in building a port… more bids, I presume?”

They were right, Cynthia mused. While air travel was a large part of how cities exported goods abroad, shipping was the majority thanks to its low costs and ease of transport. Jubilife had done the same thing a century ago. Even while landlocked, they built a port to the west to facilitate trade, first with Canalve, then the entire region and the world.

“Place that in the bid,” Cynthia nodded. “Prioritize farming, tell Vernon to put more modern farming equipment in the emergency package as well. We’ll have to buy them from another company, but we’re spending money for a good cause. Salvaging the situation will restore a bit of my political capital for when Team Galactic eventually strikes and I have to take the gloves off again.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Cynthia let out a heavy sigh. It wasn’t like she enjoyed taking rights away. They had Porygon scouring the forums to censor information faster than any human moderator could see, and they had twisted the media’s arm to keep the story about Shiftry leading the Hunters contained. There had thankfully been no leaks due to the fact that they were content to simply chew on the massive bone that Grace Pastel, Cecilia Obel and their group had given them. They'd exposed Shiftry's existence and his involvement in the events that took place a few weeks after Cynthia's ascension, but the fact that he'd been pulling Solaceon's strings could not be known. Solaceon being quasi-independent would not be a good look, both nationally and abroad.

“I’ll be leaving then,” Cynthia said. “Keep hammering out the details and keep city officials in the know. Samantha’s going to hold a press conference in two and a half hours, and she needs to give the talking points in a natural way, or she’ll come off as robotic.”

“Very well,” Lucian agreed.

“I mean, she didn’t even want to be Mayor,” Aaron said. “But I guess that means she’d good for the job. Isn’t there a saying about that? The best leaders are those who don’t want to take the position?”

“There is, but it’s nonsense,” Cynthia said as she left.

With the economy now sorted out, it was time for her to get her daily reports about the happenings around the region that was curated for her every day. The League Trainer had already been waiting for her outside of the office, and he handed her the report.

“Thank you, Kenneth. I hope you didn’t mind waiting around too much,” she smiled.

“Not at all ma’am,” the young man said. “It’s an honor to serve.”

“And it’s an honor to work alongside you,” Cynthia said. “Here.”

The Champion handed him an empty signed Pokeball and placed it in his palm.

“For your little sister Morgan,” she continued. “She’s turning fifteen next year, right? You told me she wanted to be a trainer the other day.”

Kenneth blushed before stammering. “T—thank you! I can’t wait to see the look on her face… she’ll be ecstatic.”

Cynthia smiled. It was the little things like these that kept her going. She began to read her report and focused in on the Veilstone section immediately. There were still no Team Galactic members captured there, but there had been a few sightings or reports coming in from the tip line. It was like Team Galactic in the city had gone radio silent, but Cynthia knew better. They were waiting for the right time to strike. The question was when? She already had Lou constantly monitoring Maylene for her protection, but she was still worried about the young gym leader.

The moment the crisis here was resolved, she’d focus all of her attention on the matter of Veilstone.

Other than that, things were going well, although there were reports of a young girl shaking up the Contest scene by exposing someone who’d worked with Team Galactic on social media that they’d somehow missed. A certain Antoine Nguyen that had slipped through the cracks. Cynthia committed the girl’s name to memory and made a mental note to tell Fantina about her.

Kenneth released a Bronzong and Teleported them to their next location— the Pokemon Center. She wasn’t here to visit Grace Pastel’s friends. Some of them had already left, and only three of them remained. Instead, she waved at the bewildered trainers and smiled for their pictures. She had a meeting scheduled with Craig Goodwill. The events of the Darkest Day had made him fly to Solaceon to see his sister Lauren, and she used the opportunity to sit him down for a discussion. Trainers of his caliber were very busy. Kenneth waited at the door and saluted as she entered. The raven-haired man didn’t even spare her a look.

“Champion Cynthia,” Craig dejectedly said.

“Craig,” she smiled. “You seem sad. Did something bad happen?”

“Well my sister left and gave me the finger while she did so.”

Cynthia chuckled as she sat. “She’s a teenager, she’ll grow up. My sister hated me when we were younger. Everyone knew her as Cynthia’s sister and not Celeste. We grew apart for quite a long time.”

“That didn’t help at all.”

“Well, you have to let children grow up,” Cynthia shrugged. “Have you considered my offer?”

“I have, and it’ll have to be a no, I’m afraid,” Craig said.

“Interesting. May I know why?”

“Being a League Trainer sounds nice and all, but I want to make it to the end of the year and challenge you first. That was always the plan.”

“Then we can work out another agreement,” Cynthia immediately said.

Craig Goodwill was too good of a trainer to pass up on. When the time came, Cynthia wanted him in the League to help against Team Galactic. Trainers were not beholden to the League, and therefore would not be forced to join the fight, which Cynthia found perfectly acceptable, but she had assessed Craig a while ago. He wasn’t the best at anything, but he could do everything extremely well. His approach to training had been slow and steady growth since he’d been fifteen, and today he could beat most Gym Leader’s teams without breaking a sweat, and she was relatively confident in saying that he would win the Conference this year.

If she had to guess… Cynthia thought he would beat Aaron and Bertha, but Flint’s explosive battling style would prove too much for him.

That meant that she had a trainer as powerful as an Elite Four member right there. She would be a fool not to try to poach him.

“What agreement?” Craig asked as he fiddled with an Ultra Ball. That was his… Elektross, if Cynthia remembered correctly. She had one of her own that she’d caught in Unova, although they both had completely different battling styles.

“Come on Craig, you’re smart. You know what I want,” Cynthia smirked. “Join the Internship Program so we have the option to call on you when the time comes. That way, you’ll still be able to participate in the Conference. You want to be the Champion, don’t you? That comes with responsibilities that you should be able to face.”

Craig chuckled, then rubbed his chin. “Fair enough. I was mostly waiting to see how long it’d take for you to be straight with me.”

“I thought it wasn’t necessary, but I was clearly wrong and I apologize,” Cynthia said. “Do you still only own your usual six Pokemon? If you’re going to Mount Coronet, the League will have to issue you a Teleporter. It’d be skirting the rules, but you’re too important.”

“I have a new member that I’m keeping hidden for the Conference,” he said. “Already knows Teleport, and I’ve been to every city with him. Routes would be a problem though. I just fly over them these days.”

“That’s fine,” the Champion nodded. “Even if Team Galactic strikes off-route, so long as you can get to the nearest city, League Trainers will get you there.”

Cynthia shot up.

“I’ll have Lucian send you the papers immediately,” she continued. “Thank you for your service.”

“Gotta keep the region safe, right?” Craig said. “It is what it is.”

Yes, Cynthia thought. It was what it was. He would not enjoy his coming duties, and neither would she.

——

Cynthia left Kenneth soon after their meeting. Only a few eyes had seen where she was going next, and he did not have the clearance to do so. League Trainers were not uniform. They were divided in a few categories. There were Recruits— people that had only recently joined the force and were still in training. Privates were trainers that had completed their training and only had a few years of experience. Corporals usually had five years of service, while Sergents usually had around eight. Commanders were veterans that had the highest authority below the Elite Four, and had often been in service for decades. There wasn’t exactly a set number of years that guaranteed your promotion. Some people shot up the ranks in a few years while some were stuck at the Private rank their entire careers.

Of course, there were auxiliary forces as well. The Teleportation Squads that Cynthia used a lot due to her lacking a Pokemon with the move, ACE Trainers that were focused on more covert operations, the Air Force, the Aquatic Squads, Dark Type Specialists that focused on shutting ghosts and enemy teleporters down… there were a lot.

Your rank determined your clearance level. Commanders knew about threats like Regigigas, the Regis, or what had happened a few years ago in Hoenn. Groudon and Kyogre’s fight had threatened to destroy the entirety of Hoenn until Rayquaza intervened. Gym Leaders were actually not privy to most of that information just because of the fact that they were a separate entity. While they did work for the League, they were closer to their respective civilian governments and almost never came to the Lily of the Valley Island. There were a few other Legendaries contained by the League with intricate procedures and ancient rituals. New Moon Island and Stark Mountain housed one each. Some Legendaries were well-meaning and ran free through the region as well.

But these? These were not Legendaries.

In front of Cynthia sat a cave whose entrance was blocked with an intricate seal. At its core, it was simply an enormous stone slab, but there were small indentations on the stone that had been carved into it like conduits. Dark type energy pulsated through the conduits until it converged in the center into a singular point.

Beyond that wall, hundreds of thousands of Unown slept. They had been lucky that Shiftry had still kept the seal sustained during his tantrum. If he hadn’t, then they would have broken out and wreaked havoc on the entire region.

“Andrew! How’s she taking to the job?” Cynthia asked a large, gruff League Trainer.

He turned toward her, showing medals lining his uniform. An Absol lazily preened her fur and stared at Cynthia with utter contempt. She couldn’t exactly blame the dark type. Her new job would be incredibly boring, even if she’d be allowed to roam Solaceon whenever she wished. Unfortunately, they tended to show up close to when disaster struck, so the civilians would no doubt panic.

“She’s angry, but she knows it has to be done,” the Commander said, crossing his large arms.

“Thank you, Absol,” Cynthia said. “We’ll try to get another dark type trained so you can work in shifts. We were going to do so anyway in case anything ever happened to you.”

Absol brightened at that. Training her had taken a lot of trial and error, but the process had sped up exponentially when they got their hands on a lone Unown a few years ago. Alone, they could do nothing at all. They were barely a threat to humans, and Absol could simply tweak her dark type manipulation until that Unown fell asleep. Together? They could warp reality to their liking, and they’d function like a hive mind. Even summoning weaker versions of Legendaries was on the table. Cynthia had studied the Great War, and Johto had used the Unown for that very purpose, creating a clone of Entei, Raikou and Suicune in an attempt to win the war. There hadn’t been enough Unown for them to be powerful enough, and the experiment failed miserably.

The Unown were a hive mind, but they could also bend to a human’s will. No one knew what exactly it was that they looked for, but if a person was chosen, they would essentially become a god.

Which was why Johto had only experimented with a few thousand. They weren’t foolish enough to use a large number. Still, finding someone to be chosen had taken hundreds of attempts, and when they failed, the person would suffer an unknown fate depending on what the group of Unown felt like.

It made death look pretty.

Now that they knew exactly how to contain the Unown and put them into a daze, training more dark types would only take a few months at most. Even Shiftry was not foolish enough to let the Unown loose despite knowing that he would die.

She would never have expected his answer to her question to make so much sense. Why had he reneged on their deal and cooperated with Team Galactic? Why risk everything when he knew that he could not stand up to her, let alone the entire League?

Cyrus promised him something.

Cynthia did not know much about Shiftry’s life, but she did know about his relationship with Ediva Hunter. She’d been his first and only trainer, and he’d never stopped mourning her death. The only way he managed to cope was to dull his emotions, and it had an effect on the people around him as well. Cynthia had no doubt that in the end, there had been an element of control to it too, otherwise he would not have let the Hunters’ loyalty to him remain. He would have shut down every single emotion.

But at the beginning? It had been about a Pokemon being unable to mourn his trainer’s passing.

Cyrus’ goal was to create a new world. A new world that he would be able to rule and shape to his liking. In exchange for help, he had promised Shiftry to bring Ediva back and to bring him into this new world.

He would have abandoned the rest of his family to do it.

Cynthia cracked her neck, released her Garchomp and flew back toward Solaceon. The motivation of Team Galactic Commanders' had eluded the League until now. Mars, Jupiter and Saturn’s motivation still remained shrouded, but Charon? Cynthia’s talks with Mira Compton had been very productive in that regard.

He too, wanted to bring someone back.