Hard enough - Chapter 352 - Foreign exchange

Wes shifted in his chair. “I still can’t believe that rumour was true about the explosives in our helmets,” he muttered. 

Rui grunted, her eyes locked on the window but with how glassy her eyes were it was obvious she wasn’t actually looking at something. She was lost in her head.

The quiet was kind of getting to Wes though so he filled it with whatever came to his mind. 

“Think the locals are going to have us shot?”

“No,” replied Rui, speaking for the first time. “They were actually the ones to help us,” she said softly.

Wes nodded, his mind flashing to the trio of humans and their weird talking cat pokemon that had approached them after they’d been hurled into a wall of ice cause of the explosives in said helmets.

“Said her name was Erika,” said Wes. “Think she’s got a boyfriend?” 

That got a snort from Rui. “Please! Look in the mirror!” she said pointing at Wes.

Wes made a show of looking towards the mirror. He even cracked a smile at his reflection.

Sure he was all knobbly knees and gangly limbs at the moment, but he was growing into it. Spending time at the gym and eating right would surely pay off one day. He just needed time.

“Urgh, you’re one of those people that can’t see that they’re ugly aren’t you?”  Rui growled.

“Alright so I’m not your type! No need to be mean,” Wes said.

“Urgh… that’s not… oh forget it,” Rui replied just as the sound of the door opening had them sitting bolt upright.

The man who entered had a stack of folders, a tray of drinks and several pens balanced precariously in his grip.

Wes moved to help only for the man to deposit everything on the table with a practiced manner.

“Hello, my name is Looker, I’ll be your point of contact for the foreseeable future,” the man said in a rapid fire manner. “Coffee?” he offered. 

Wes shook his head while Rui snatched one up. “So you’re a local cop?” she asked.

“No, actually I’m part of a growing international force referred to as G-men,” Looker stated as he laced his fingers together. The man’s eyes roamed over both of them and Wes felt like he was being weighed, measured, and examined all at once with how this guy was looking at him.

Rui nodded slowly. “Oh, okay, cool. So what’s that mean for us?” she asked.

“You and your companion were the only ones to surrender, which makes you the most compliant of all those we’ve taken into custody. This is going to lighten any sentence that might get handed down in a court of law eventually. I’m here to offer a further deal because…” the man stared at them both for a long moment, only to pause and take a sip of his coffee. 

“Ahhh, that hit the spot,” he said before smiling. “I think I can be honest with you both. Orre isn’t on any of our maps. We have little to no understanding of your region, your customs, your cities, or where you came from. The more you can tell us the more we can help you out.”

“Oh?” Wes said slowly. This was way different than the cops back home. There it was bad cop bad cop if you got caught. They’d rough you up and then demand a bribe from a loved one.

It was one of the things that had made him want to join Team Cipher in the first place. It was only a few years in that he’d learned the Team Cipher was the police, that he started feeling off about everything.

Looker opened a folder and laid out a page. “I’ve got some questions if you don’t mind?” he stated and both former Team Cipher members leaned forward.

“Where is Orre in relation to this island, specifically Shamouti?”

“South-east,” Rui supplied.

“Who is the sitting leader of Team Cipher, and what are his stated goals?” 

“Greevil, and the control of Orre.”

“Did he not already have that? What made him attack the Orange Islands?” 

“He did,” Wes said slowly. “They said it was cause of Team Rocket, or rather the Indigo people coming in and taking control. They were better at handling their pokemon and had stronger pokemon… it was something every week with infiltrators and demolition specialists running riot through our homeland.”

“Hmmm, this was after Team Cipher captured the Legendary Cats of your region, yes?” Looker asked.

“Y-yeah?” Wes said.

Looker sighed. “Well it seems this won’t be a one-sided exchange of knowledge.” He toyed with his watch for a bit only for something to be projected upwards.

It took a moment for Wes to realise that a screen had formed and that words were racing by as Looker flicked his fingers back and forth.

“Hmmm hmm, so there’s a story about the creation myth, something that Fiore texts actually go into much greater detail about, but that is beside the point. The point of the story is how the world was formed and various checks and balances were created.”

Looker held up a finger. “Pokemon are powerful creatures yes?” 

Rui and Wes nodded. 

Looker continued. “Now, pokemon can become more powerful with trainers working with them. They can grow so strong that they can create widespread destruction if there is nothing keeping a leash on them. That more often than not is thanks to the Legendary pokemon of each region.”

Looker began flicking through pictures highlighting the very Legendaries that had been fighting last night. 

“Each has a place in the natural order while making sure that pokemon don’t disrupt things too much. It’s why we don’t have Tyranitars or Gyarados rampagingtoo often. It happens occasionally, but it’s isolated and usually manageable.”

Looker made a circling gesture, and a screen appeared with a fingerprint on it that he pressed a thumb to.

“Historical texts requested! Processing… Access granted!” chimed the watch.

A new screen appeared with images of cities burning, dead bodies littering streets. “The only recorded precedent of pokemon rampaging too much has been when widespread fighting was ongoing. So much so that a theoretical limit was raised that the Legendary pokemon could no longer hold back, that led to them becoming more active and destructive in what some researchers believe was a method of calming the various warring factions down.”

Looker smiled. “Now, the point I wanted to make was that capturing all of your Region’s Legendary pokemon is a great way to rip out the safeguards they provide. It’s no wonder you were having tornados, earthquakes, fires, and floods almost every week. You brought that on yourselves.”

Rui and Wes blinked. “But that’s…” Then, as one, both of them groaned. 

Rui worked her jaw. “Any chance you could show that stuff to some of the Cipher Peons? They might jump ship if they understood how Cipher has been screwing us over and keeping us in the dark.”

“Hmmm, yes I think that will be a viable method, but for now, I wanted to know about the shadow balls that were being used. What are they made of? Did you have exposure to any? If so for how long? And did you notice an uptick in emotional fluctuations?”

Wes and Rui reeled as question after question was fired at them. Looker seemingly had an endless list. They had no idea how the price of Oran or other berries factored into anything but they found themselves answering despite their confusion. 

Then Looker’s watch pinged and he paused long enough to allow them to get a drink of water and go to the bathroom.

When they came back Looker was rubbing his chin. “What do either of you know about a Dr Kaminko?”

“The rebel doctor? He’s some kook who has been trying to rally a resistance against Team Cipher. He… has a fair few sympathisers among the people with them supplying him. He somehow started producing pokeballs recently but he mainly fought back with robots,” Wes supplied.

Rui nodded. “Rumor has it he was building something big, big enough to challenge Team Cipher head on, rather than in small smash and grabs on minor operations.”

“Is that so?” Looker said with a pleased smile. “Well that does change things,” he stated as he indicated that the interview was done. Before he left he offered them an escort to go for a walk and even access to the local library as a show of good faith.

Wes wasn’t normally one to read but with how long this was looking to be he would gladly take any distraction.

______________________

Cynthia sat with her hands laced together and a frown on her face as the Legendary Watch team reported their findings.

“—sightings of Darkrai were significantly increased across the past week and we’re expecting those numbers to stay high,” the leader of the Legendary Watch Team, otherwise known as LWT within Sinnoh, Harrold reported. “There still hasn’t been an event that we’ve linked this uptick in sightings to.”

“There has,” Cynthia reported, sliding a report. “This is going to be making headlines tomorrow morning,” she declared with a tired sigh.

The man began flicking through the report.

“Nine Legendaries doing battle? That … doesn’t seem reasonable, where did they… Oh, I see, hmmm, a new region has been discovered…” the man muttered. 

Cynthia nodded along, knowing that nine doing battle didn’t include the report on a child Legendary being captured and held ransom.

“This new region… it’s going to be an issue I can tell. It’s pretty much entered the international stage in the worst possible way imaginable.”

“By resparking old conflicts?” Harrold asked.

“No,” Cynthia replied. “By having everyone’s perceptions of their nations be distorted due to a criminal faction.”

Harrold hummed noncommittally as he adjusted his glasses and pulled out a pen to make some notes only to blink when Cynthia whisked the report out of his hands. ”Whuh?”

Cynthia wagged a finger. “No marking it. This is not something you’re keeping. Some of the information here is not being shared with the news outlets, I can tell you that much. What I need from you is about the other Legends of the Trinity Accords. Is Darkrai the only Legend that is going to stir?” she asked.

There was usually a part of her that would delight in the idea of diving into some ruin or ancient manuscript to look into the history of the various regions, something she’d been rather indulging herself in with Indigo, Hoenn, and the Orange Islands as histories and texts being provided to her.

As Champion, she’d demanded and been granted access to the unredacted versions of Indigo and the Orange Islands, but with the reports of Fiore also being part of this incident, she knew she had some more reading ahead of her.

Worse, if she was having to dive into some ruins about potential Legendary pokemon stirring, it would only be due to a dire need to know more.

Giratina, Palkia, Dialga, or even Arceus itself might appear which could cause widespread problems in so many ways.

“We don’t currently have anyone observing Spear Pillar,” admitted Harrold nervously.

Cynthia adopted a blank smile. “And why is that?” she asked sweetly.

“It… it fell out of favour with the last administration,” Harrold admitted as he did everything to curl into his chair defensively.

Cynthia groaned. “Of course it comes down to politics!”

“Funding cuts meant that we had to prioritise more active threats. Darkrai was first on that list but we also keep an eye out for the three forces of Nature of Unova. We don’t typically have to worry about the Guardian Spirits of Sinnoh as they are benign as are the Swords of Justice of Unovan. Kalos’ Legendaries haven’t been seen in decades…” Harrold muttered.

Cynthia hummed. “No, not since Zygarde stepped in at the end of the war. ”

Harrold licked his lips. “How much do you think that was sensationalisation on Kalosian historians?”

Cynthia blinked. “Considering that Amber Husk was and still is a woman of extreme integrity who pointed out several atrocities that have blacklisted her in certain Kalosian social circles, I would suspect it to be as accurate as it can be when a Legendary pokemon is involved.”

Harrold blinked and shifted in his seat. “O-oh? Blacklisted because of her work you say? That… does speak of a certain… moral fibre,” he said only to avoid looking into Cynthia’s eyes as he wiggled. 

“It’s just!” he flapped a hand about. “I mean Zygarde fighting, then healing two armies back to back? They listed the armies as both having Elite Tier pokemon in the hundreds!” Harrold said with a flap of his hands.

“And doing so cost Zygarde greatly. To this day they think it is still reforming after it fell into the river,” Cynthia stated.

Harrold hummed in a noncommittal fashion. 

Cynthia huffed, saddened but not surprised that he didn’t agree with her view. It was seen as too mythical and not at all realistic enough. She often thought that people failed to remember that truth could often be stranger than a lie.

Still, she moved on with the conversation, “There are a lot of pokemon that you’re not mentioning,” Cynthia pointed out. 

“I don’t have the people, the funding, or the equipment to monitor all of those,” Harrold admitted as he made a ‘what can you do’ gesture.

Cynthia pulled out a set of papers. “I’m going to fast track a proposal, but until then, I’m opening up some personal funds for you to draw on.”

“Cynthia, I really appreciate the gesture but you can’t be expected to—” he fell silent as Cynthia slid the form across to him. He blinked, then he adjusted his glasses before giving them a wipe. “But… you…”

“Being a Champion means I had to fight a lot of battles when I came up the ranks Harrold,” Cynthia said with an amused twitch of her lips. “I always bet on myself.”

“Oh,” Harrold said. “Thank you!” he stood and saluted her, which was rather comical considering Harrold had never served a day in his life in the military. 

Cynthia waved him off. “Get this sorted. Keep receipts, you will be getting audited because of this,” she ordered and the man as he rose only to stiffen. 

“Audited?” he wheezed like she’d just given him a second christmas only to threaten said gift.

Cynthia gave him a flat look. “I just handed you fifty million pokedollars,” she reminded him and he nodded slowly.

“I suppose,” he muttered as he stood lethargically. He marched to the door only to linger. 

“Something else?” she asked.

Harrold nodded, “You said something earlier… about people’s views on Orre being distorted due to the Criminal faction yeah?”

“Yes?” she replied, curious as to his point.

Harrold bobbed his head from side to side. “If they control Orre, doesn’t that make them the current government?”

Cynthia gave him a blank look. “No, as coercion is not Leadership. It also sets a dangerous precedent of lumping people together that might not have had any say in this situation.”

Harrold nodded. “Yeah that makes sense, but will others see it that way?” he asked before bobbing his head and departing.

Cynthia watched him go, his words lingering in her mind. She sighed and shook her head as she turned her attention to her computer where she brought up another form to apply for compensation from the League for paying for emergency funding as Champion. 

It shouldn’t amuse her, but even with her not having nearly as much say with her Legislature, or the governance of Sinnoh as other Champions, she still had ways to influence it or to control where funds got spent.

Reimbursing a Champion was something that you did, especially when they could call you on it, in front of voters. 

If there was one good part of this incident, it was that it had occurred close to Sinnoh’s voting period. All the politicians up for vote wanted to look good.

She sent the form off with a hum knowing she’d just won Harrold and the LWT’s members favour even if she’d forced them to stay honest with the money.

Speaking of which she forwarded a message to the IRS to guarantee that they received an audit. It might be cruel but sometimes you had to guarantee honesty even in good men.

A buzzing had her snatching up her phone, “Cynthia here, what’s happening?” she asked only to grimace and turn to a nearby television.

On the bottom of the prompter a line of text ran across a ‘breaking news report’. 

It read: Fiore Chancellor speaks live! War declared!

“Oh shit,” Cynthia whispered as she hung the phone up and began to dial other numbers. It seemed like there were going to be a lot of calls and late nights coming her way.

Even as she began to make calls to learn more she couldn’t help an intrusive thought. 

How had a Sinnoh News Outlet gotten to this news? 

It shouldn’t have been possible with the tight controls over the comm buoys.

Cynthia smelled a Rattata and suddenly the Elections took on a new worrying cast. Who was benefiting from this the most?

Cynthia suspected she was going to be running damage control for a good while, but she’d remember this. 

________________

Fjord smiled as she stood behind the People’s Chancellor of Fiore. 

In front of them a host of cameras were poised along with reporters that were spreading the good word.

Chancellor Maximoff nodded seriously. “TO REITERATE AND CLARIFY MY WORDS. FIORE AS A NATION, AND A PEOPLE DECLARES HOLY WAR UPON ORRE!” he declared with a powerful voice that filled the room.

His eyes blazed with fervour as he stared into each camera to make sure they understood even a fraction of his passion. “THEIR DEFILEMENT OF THE LEGENDARY POKEMON AND THEIR USE OF HERETICAL TOOLS TO DRAIN POKEMON OF THEIR FREE WILL IS AN AFFRONT TO THE BELIEFS OF EVERY FIORE CITIZEN!”

Chancellor Maximoff indicated Fjord who raised her head. “Delegate Fjord and her child, a boy no more than eleven years of age witnessed Team Cipher’s acts and were able to intervene and assist the Legendary pokemon so they might be cleansed.”

He held up a hand to the sky. “It should be noted that this cleansing is a Fiorian method. We are the best suited to going to Orre, freeing the oppressed and cleansing the rot that has been created.”

Chancellor Maximoff slammed a fist against his podium. “TO THOSE THAT WOULD STAND IN OUR WAY I SAY THIS! IF YOU WOULD HARBOUR THE HERETICAL, ATTEMPT TO DIVERT OR MISLEAD OUR CRUSADE IN ANYWAY, YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED! THE WICKED SHALL REPENT AND THE WORLD SHALL BE BETTERED! WE ALLOW OTHER NATIONS TO KEEP TO THEIR WAYS BUT THIS PERVERSION IS NOT SOMETHING WE CAN IGNORE. OUR FAITH SPEAKS TO US! WE ARE BEING ATTACKED AND MUST DEFEND OURSELVES! WE MUST ACT!” 

He stared wide-eyed into the cameras, his next words did not come as an impassioned shout but a whispered promise that sent a chill through everyone watching’s spine. “Arceus is with us, and we will not be denied!” 

With that he swept away to see to the business of war with no questions to be answered by many raised.

______________________

Lance and Kruger stared at the television screen. 

Then as one they turned and shared a wide-eyed look of disbelief. “This… can’t be happening can it?” Kruger rasped.

Lance leaned over and pinched Kruger. The man blinked as understanding set in. He copied Lance, pinching the Dragon Master’s hand in turn.

Lance hissed. “Damn, I had really hoped that I had been having a nightmare,” he muttered. 

“I think we might be still,” Kruger muttered only to shake his head. “Or perhaps if we wished to be dramatic this could be our wake up call that we’ve always been living in a nightmare…nsumed…”

Lance began to knead his forehead. “That… did nothing to ease my mind,” he replied.

Kruger waved his hand in a so-so manner. 

Lance huffed. “Alright, alright. Fiore is declaring war… but they’re a nation that doesn’t use pokemon, at least how we might. What does that mean?”

“I have no idea. We need an expert!” Kruger replied hastily. 

Lance grunted and nodded. “Get our Expert, and then get another three just in case we’re being fed rapidash shit. We need to know what is going on and understand the Fiorians like we’ve never had to before!”

Kruger nodded and began making calls as Lance turned to his own transceiver to demand updates from the G-men in the field along with sourcing any extra ‘experts on Fiore’ that he might find.

Something that he suspected almost every Company head, Leader, Champion, or head of State or even person that wanted to be in the know was now doing. 

At least Lance knew he wasn’t alone in the sleepless nights that promised to be ahead.

_______________

Yuji stared at the television as it shifted back to a frazzled-looking reporter.

“Well you heard it here, folks The Fiore Region is declaring war upon Orre! Orre as we understand it is a region that has announced itself on the world stage by—”

Yuji rose and moved to another room causing the people with him to stiffen. 

Luana glanced up. “Champion Yuji? What should we do?”

Yuji paused, giving her a long look. Best to get her away from the conversation he was about to have. She might not be able to read his mind thanks to the emitter he wore, but he still didn’t want to risk it.

If half the rumours about psychics were true, then he needed to be extra careful.

“Go talk to the Elders and assure them that we’re going to do everything to see to our Region’s needs first. We’re not throwing ourselves into anything,” Yuji stated.

People around the room sighed in relief and Yuji blinked. Wait? Had they thought he was about to demand that the Orange Islands join those nutjobs in Fiore?

Screw that!

“I have a call to make,” he stated. “Don’t let anyone disturb me.”

He then stepped into the room he’d claimed for himself as an office. 

Instead of lifting the transceiver on the desk and using the public system he moved to the walls where he placed several more dark emitters. With a psychic like Luana you needed to take precautions.

With a psychic like Sabrina on the island, you needed to take precautions.

The room darkened significantly and Yuji felt himself twitching as a slightly frantic energy washed over him. 

It was only with several more Dark Emitters operating around the room that he pulled out another transceiver that looked more like a blank Technical Machine.

He placed it on the table and pushed a button.

Within moments, a screen shot into the air.

A small arm popped out of the disk and swept the room instantly. “User Yuji detected. Password?”

“TRI blasts off,” he declared with a grim tone.

The arm remained raised, Yuji knew that the arm was taking constant measurements of the room he was in, making sure that nothing was listening or present that shouldn’t be.

He’d been given explicit instructions about the use of this communications pad. If the pad detected anyone other than him nearby it would glass itself to stop anyone else using the pad to hack the encrypted communications that the new Team Rocket or rather TRI holdings as they now went by.

The screen resolved itself to a shadowy figure of a youthful woman.

“Champion Yuji, you wish to talk again after our last discussion? Are you looking for a reward for a mission well done?”

“Hmph, after the risks I took I think I’m more than entitled to such,” he growled. “But no, I wanted to know if I’m going to receive any more support with this Fiore situation!” 

“Hmmm the Fiorians have reacted as we expected of them. Making sure the Delegate was attending the Festival has turned out to be a masterstroke. TRI has a plan, you needn’t worry.”

“I think I kind of have to when I’m going to be facing scrutiny over why I didn’t do more and rather relied on foreign Gym Leaders!”

“I’d suggest you allow the next few challengers you face to beat you handily,” the woman stated with a tone that made it clear that she was ‘suggesting’ nothing and instead commanding him.

Yuji growled. “That won’t help me!”

“It will because it will make everyone understand that you did what you could. Instead of risking yourself you played within your strengths. You can also garner sympathy with the news that some of you best pokemon are injured from the fighting, don’t be so one-dimensional about this situation,” she replied sharply. 

“You will be receiving your reward soon. I suggest you put them to good use,” declared the woman before the connection cut off.

Yuji clenched his fists. “Urgh!” he groaned. “Stupid! What were you expecting from them? They’re completely transactional!”

He sat with a heavy flop and rubbed his forehead. They’d gotten what they wanted from him. He’d set up an unmanned recording station at the highest points of Shamouti to allow TRI to observe everything along with extending an invitation to the Shamouti festival to the Fiorians.

Somehow this had resulted in them declaring war.

Was this what TRI had been aiming for all along?

How did they know that would be their response?

Yuji found he had more questions than answers and he didn’t like it. 

He’d just have to console himself with the knowledge he was about to get six pokemon trained by Blaine himself.

After the next few challenges where he ‘fumbled’ he couldn’t wait to reestablish himself by blowing some punks away!

____________________

Madam Bossue didn’t even bat an eye as she hung up on Yuji, she instead turned to her next task for the day.

She pressed a number and her receptionist’s voice answered. “Yes ma’am?”

“Get the Rota and Fiore teams on the line,” she stated as her gaze locked on the stock market. Numbers were starting to come in as people began reacting to the news.

She began buying up stocks that were being dumped as people reacted poorly. The Madam smirked to herself. The short sighted fools didn’t understand that none of the other nations were going to jump into the conflict with Fiore and Orre.

Orre had no allies, having just emerged and had emerged onto the world stage as a rabid Mightyena to others understanding with them only being Poochyena at most. 

A buzzer drew her attention away from the stock market. “Yes?” she asked.

“Your Head of Research is here Ma’am,” stated the receptionist.

“Send him in,” she stated, interested as to what his findings would be on the recent events.

The door to her office opened and Blaine stepped in confidently, his gaze sweeping the room out of habit only to lock on the large open window that stared out over the Indigo Plateau.

“It still amuses me no end that we have positioned ourselves right under their noses,” he mused, his moustache twitching back and forth.

“It is the place they are least likely to look,” she stated. “What are your findings regarding the recent incident?”

Blaine ran a hand down his tie as he considered what to say first. “The widespread migration of pokemon revealed that there was more at stake, but almost every agency had no idea about what was going on. Except for Sabrina and Brock,” he said firmly.

“I suspect Sabrina was able to parse some hints about the incident as they had bookings for the room months in advance of the incident.” Blaine glanced towards Madam Bossue, “Before you even tapped that young Stantler down in the Orange Islands to invite those Fiore representatives.”

Blaine stared at Madam Bossue as she made several trades on her computer. “How did you know that Fiore would react so poorly to the evidence of the Shadowball?”

“I’ve been to Fiore, lived among them for a while, experienced their way of life. I’ve spoken with their leaders, studied the way their society works,” Madam Bossue admitted.

Blaine stared. “Truly? Usually, they require you to give up your pokemon…”

“They are nothing to me but investments in my defence. Ones that can be replaced. I took a gamble at the time to get out of Giovanni’s sight by going exploring but it has paid off, while others are scrambling for second-hand knowledge, I can act.”

“Yes, I imagine you could,” Blaine muttered. “So from there it was just about moving the pieces eh?”

“Indeed, the observation team in Orre has proved itself. Long term investments along with short-term moves are always best,” Madam Bossue stated firmly. She made a final purchase order then directed her attention towards Blaine.

“What have you discovered from the samples we acquired?”

“Shadow metal is corruptive,” Blaine stated firmly. “I’ve performed several tests on pokemon and people, and using it on people makes them more open to suggestions. For that reason, it is a potent pokeball material but it also dulls their instincts making them weak. Pokemon often don’t see the need to dodge as much as they should and need to be ordered to do so repeatedly. If a trainer is skilled enough and understands this, they can overcome the gap but most would consider it a weakness as there will be delays. Simply put, it’s a fast way to gain their absolute loyalty, but with detrimental side effects.”

Blaine crossed his arms. “I’ve received an interesting update about the Orange islands, something about a pair of Robotic pokemon appearing? A Doctor Kaminko apparently created them?”

“They are heavily monitored, I’m not sure you’ll be able to get more than pictures, the authenticity of the man’s claims that they would be equal to their counterparts is…” Madam Bossue shook her head while Blaine snorted.

“That man has obviously never faced a Legend if he thinks mere robotic parts can duplicate the power of those pokemon.”

Madam Bossue nodded. “Indeed, in the short term I’d ask that you look into uses for the Shadowmetal we have. I’d have some thoughts,” she offered, slipping a stack of notes to Blaine.

“Hmmm interrogation techniques, torture implements, anti-psyhic tools, and of course capture implements,” Blaine read aloud. “Hmm I think we can finesse some of these but I also want to apply this metal to some of my other research that has stalled. This might be a crucial material for getting pokemon past the stressors of boosting or more,” he mused.

Madam Bossue waved a hand. “Do as you wish. You have your restraints, but I will ask that you make yourself available in a few weeks time. With Fiore expending its efforts overseas, they are going to leave themselves open. I hope to extract a few choice items from them at that time.”

Blaine grinned. “I’ll be sure to mark it in my calendar!” he declared with a flash of his glasses.

Madam Bossue merely smiled, pleased that yet another investment was paying out so well. 

_______________

A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support!

Hope you enjoyed the reveal of Fiore being tugged around by TRI aka Team Rocket under Madam Bossue!

Poor Lance, the world just can’t stay neat and orderly for five minutes under his tenure, can it?

Thanks also go to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter!