Hard Enough - Chapter 169 - The world moves (Patreon)

Agatha sat on a ledge, watching the pathetic people that scurried about underfoot go about their day.

Her hand idly brushed along her shadow and instead of scrapping itself on the coarse stonework underneath her, it touched velvet softness.

Her shadow purred in contentment only to squawk as that pokemon was bumped it out of the way o another might receive her pats.

“You know, you really haven’t changed,” said a voice, wisened with age. “You still find the tallest tower you can to watch the world pass you by!”

Despite herself, Agatha turned and found herself seeing a much younger man overlapping the man currently approaching her.

Then she blinked and the image was gone, leaving only the old man. “And neither have you, coming up here to find me, despite not being Champion or having anything to do with me anymore,” Agatha replied.

Samuel Oak hummed in thought and walked up to her side where he laced his feet through the railing, letting them hang over the edge. He kicked them back and forth and grinned. “I’m going to have to disagree with you, I have a lot to do with you.”

His smile softened. “We’re friends Agatha.”

Agatha turned her head away with a huff, ignoring the quickening of her heart. Damn that smile, so many problems had started with that.

“Who’d be friends with you!” she said, the words old and worn with how often she’d said them to Samuel.

He knew not to listen to them and instead merely sat with her, content to share a moment.

Agatha was in no rush, these days, at the twilight of her life, she knew how precious each moment could be. Perhaps that was why she didn’t sleep as much any more? She didn’t want to waste her time on sleep, but instead on tasting something new about life?

Another scuffing noise of someone approaching her made her glance behind her only for a growl to emerge from her lips. “Why did you come up here?” she said to Pryce.

The old man scoffed. “I was invited to meet Samuel here, I didn’t know you would be here!” he snapped back, prickly as always.

“I didn’t realise you two had a date! I’ll have to let you—” Agatha replied only for Samuel to sigh explosively.

“Don’t you two ever get tired of sniping at each other?” he said with an exasperated shake of his head.

“No,” “Never!” snapped Agatha and Pryce together. They both locked eyes at how in-sync they’d been with the other only for Samuel to laugh at them.

They both rounded on him.

“It’s not funny!” they snarled together, only to go back to eyeing each other in distaste.

Samuel waved a hand. “But it is! Oh! Come now! Just let things be for the moment! This is a momentous occasion for the League. Put your animosity to the side and just… be,” Samuel said expansively as he gestured at the busy people below.

Pryce approached and eyed the ledge. “I think I’ll stand,” he said cooly as he leaned against the safety rail.

Samuel merely nodded and hummed.

Agatha eyed both men, her tranquillity well and truely lost. “I heard that Blaine escaped you,” she said pointedly, going for the kill straight away.

Samuel nodded, his eyes locked on a distant figure running with their breakfast still in their mouth. “Indeed, it appears that his Gym and home had been abandoned only very recently. He must have known we were coming.” Samuel sighed, “He didn’t even leave a note.”

“I told you he was always bad news,” Pryce said firmly.

Agatha sniffed pointedly but didn’t comment. Blaine had always been hotheaded. Unfortunately, he was also one of the sharpest minds of their generation. Combine that with his skills  and acchomplisments as a pokemon trainer, it became impossible to overlook him for someone more… palatable.

Agatha sighed. Most of Indigo had accepted her as an Elite Four thanks to the nature of her missions during the war. She was a virtual unknown beyond people telling ghost stories of her.

Blaine… Blaine was the man that made people’s passions run hot, both for good and bad.

Blaine hadn’t been allowed in Ecruteak City after the war. The League had eventually decided to set up a lie surrounding the origins of the burned tower there, but the elders of the city all remembered that it was no lightning strike that destroyed the tower.

It had been Blaine, specifically on the day of a sacred festival.

Blaine had been rather amused that the myth had grown in a single generation to the creation of the Legendary Beasts of Indigo.

“If you had your time again…” Agatha started to say before letting it fade. She didn’t need to ask anything else. Pryce and Samuel understood.

“I have regrets,” said Pryce firmly, eyes locked on the horizon.

“I’d keep things the same if I could,” an oddly whimsical tone in his voice. “We can never truly know what our actions or inactions will bring, but on the whole, we did our best and that’s what mattered. If we’d known more things at the time? We would have acted on them and so much mightht be different, but right now, right here? Things are going well enough!” Samuel said with a fond smile.

Pryce glanced at Samuel and blinked rapidly like he’d seen something before shaking his head.

“Who do you think will take up the mantle of criminal overlord now that Giovanni is behind bars?” said Pryce.

Samuel sighed forlornly. “One of you can’t stop thinking about the past and the other is thinking of the next lot of work! Just forget about that! We’re old, let the young ones handle that. Lance is taking care of it!”

Agatha huffed before shooting Pryce a look. “Your granddaughter… she stood up well, when we came under fire from those guns she didn’t even flinch.”

Pryce puffed up. “She’s great isn’t she?”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Agatha said with a sniff only for Samuel to nudge her.

He then reached into her shadow and pat Gengy absentmindedly. Her shadow wriggled with pleasure.

Agatha shot Gengey an annoyed look before smirking. “I think I’m looking forward to retiring from my Elite Four position.” She’d have so much more freedom soon.

Samuel nodded and turned his head back to her. “I have to say the ones rising up to potentially take over your position have drawn my eye, none more so than young Karen!”

Agatha eyed Samuel and he smiled back entirely too innocently. Agatha huffed in annoyance. For all that Blaine was sharp, Samuel hadn’t been far off either.

He must have spotted the resemblance.

“Well, she’s got some potential,” said Agatha haughtily.

A skittering scrap made all three old pokemon trainers turn to find Agatha’s latest protege scrambling across the rooftop with none of the confidence they’d had.

“A-agatha? Lance is looking for you?” she said, keeping her knees bent and her hands ready to grab for the railing in case she slipped.

Agatha huffed. “I best go see what the boy wants! Because unlike you two, I still have an actual job!” she said.

Samuel nodded. “Ah well, that’s a shame, I had enjoyed our little moment.” he said with a smile that made Agatha remember other times when it had been just her and Samuel. She turned her head away with a harrumph.

“Oh don’t be like that! I saw you smiling!” said that damnable man.

When he sighed, Agatha turned back, drawn to him despite her ire. “I suppose that’s the nature of time … isn’t it?”  Samuel said whimsically.

Agatha jabbed her cane into his ribs. “Don’t start with that. I’ve heard your poetry and I don’t need to hear any more!”

Samuel grinned. “Yes yes! Hurry up and retire so we can enjoy tea dates together!” then he gained a look that had Agatha stepping back. He’d had an idea. And soemtimes those could be dangerous.

Samuel stood and coughed causing Agatha to relax.

“Time flows like a river, Eternal current's embrace, Moments drift away~.” he said with a a soft smile.

Agatha stared for a long moment only to stab with her cane once again. “Where was that when we last met up? You recited terrible poems for half an hour and you jsut whip something like that off the cuff?!”

Samuel batted the cane away. “I’m better when I’m working on the fly! I can’t help it!”

Agatha and Pryce snorted. A truer statement had never been uttered.

Agatha huffed and turned away. “If you can keep poems like that, it might not be so bad!” she snapped.

Samuel grinned at Pryce. “All three of us!”

Agatha lost her enthusiasm and Pryce looked like he’d sucked a lemon.

That had Agatha reconsidering. Hmmm maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea?

Pryce huffed. “Perhaps,” he said stoically.

Agatha floated up to a standing position buoyed by her Ghost pokemon. “I’ll be in touch,” she said to her old… friends. They nodded and waved.

“Agatha,” said Oak.

Agatha stilled. The tone of his voice demanded her attention. She looked back and found him glaring up at the sky, a determined look glinting in his eyes. “If the League… or you, find Blaine… tell me. I feel like some things need to be Lance’s to clean up. But not Blaine. I’ll handle him,” he said firmly.

Agatha nodded, not questioning if he knew about her Guardians' initiative. The man could play the fool all too well and it wasn’t until moments like this that the former Champion truly shone through.

Agatha stalked back across the roof, her cane flashing out to tap the young girl on her ankles.

“Stand up tall and walk with confidence! You’re more likely to cause yourself to fall liek that! And if you fall! So what? You caught a flying type the other day!”

“Yeah a Zubat!” snarled the girl, reminding Agatha of a much younger Karen… or even herself. It warmed her heart to see such passion, truly.

“Well hurry up and make it strong or next time capture something better!” sniffed Agatha, enjoying the way the girl growled.

“These are the pokemon that I know how to train!” complained the girl. "I'd be better if Arbok hadn't..." she trailed off and curled in on herself.

“Hmmm," Agatha said, tapping the girl to get her out of her mood. "Well, we’ll have to correct that. I’ll find you a nice Gastly to work with!” Agatha said, a skip almost entering her step before the reality of her age stopped her.

Ah, she couldn’t wait until she retired from being an Elite Four, she’d have to keep herself busy though.

Perhaps she could adopt some girls and teach them how to be strong young women?

Then again, she suspected she’d have other tasks to fill her days.

You could never rest easily these days.

She shared a smile to her shadow.

Not even when you died, she thought.

"Gastly are lame old woman!" snapped the girl.

Agatha sighed. "Oh dear, youth is wasted on the young," she said aloud as she strode into the League to help another youth with the issues he'd created for himself.

____________________________________________

Maxie meticulously wiped his spectacles.

He would need to have a clear vision for this task. He could not misinterpret or misread anything of the report that had just been delivered.

When he was finished to a satisfactory degree, his spectacles glinted. Only then did he don his spectacles and turn to the first page of the report.

“Sir! Have you seen that the Inidigo Champion has neutralised Team Rocket?” said Courtney, the door banging against the wall as she stormed into Maxie’s office.

Maxie blinked, the first page of the report barely having been raised. “Ah…” he said, glancing at the report. He let the page fall. “I was just about to peruse it,” he said.

Courtney stared at the report on the table for a long moment. “Sir… you really need to start using your computer more.”

Maxie glanced to the side. “I prefer the physical sensation of turning the pages. There is a certain tactile sensation you see?” he said as he flipped the page.

Courtney nodded her head seriously. “Very well sir, I shall wait for you.” She then pulled a chair into the corner and sat down, the picture of a dutiful second in command.

Maxie coughed into his fist.

Now he felt somewhat self-conscious with how his quirk was causing her to sit and wait for him to catch up.

He knew his second in command well enough to know that she would insist on waiting for him.

He began turning the pages, his eyes darting across the words quickly only to stop each time he reached the end. He took a small moment each time to enjoy lifting and placing the next page down.

This acceleration and stoppage resulted in him only being halfway through the report before his door slammed open once more.

“Sir! Have you gotten… Oh I see you have, oh hello Courtney,” said Tabitha as he took in the room at a glance. The barrel chest man nodded amicably and then set another chair next to Courtney.

Maxie felt himself blush as he adjusted his spectacles.

First Courtney, and then Tabitha? Was Brodie and Blaise about to storm in? Were all of them that much faster than him due to his desire to do things the right and proper way?

Maxie eyed the door as Tabitha settled. When nothing happened, Maxie returned to reading the report on the Indigo situation. Thankfully with no further interruptions, Maxie could contemplate everything he’d just read.

“Giovanni was the leader of Team Rocket,” Maxie said aloud, tasting the words.

Courtney and Tabitha vibrated in their seats, dying to speak up but thankfully their discipline — in this matter— was sufficient.

“The Leader of the Viridian Gym, a former soldier who had been in charge of logistics and supplies, a position perfect for graft while keeping him away from fighting. He’d have made many connections and been able to trade many favours. I believe there would be a linkage there as to why Blaine and Surge are also now being stood down.”

“Sir!” Tabitha said, his body positively vibrating in his seat.

Maxie waved a hand, his lips twitching even as Courtney shot her fellow Adminstrator an annoyed look.

“Sir! There is something going on with Surge’s Gym! My Cousin’s daughter was in Vermillion and there is something more going on there!”

“Hoh? Civil strife?” Maxie said.

“No! When I got the report and read through it was I able to talk to them! There are lawyers involved but whatever was going on stopped the League from reclaiming the Gym for themselves!”

Maxie paused at that. It was an interesting but unessential tidbit to the rest of the information, but still of note. “Hmmm the Indigo League stymied? Interesting,” he said drumming his fingers on the table.

Courtney coughed politely before speaking up. “Sir, the Indigo league is already stretched thin due to the popularity that they drew for this year’s amateur circuit.”

“And with the loss of Blaine and Giovanni things will become much more difficult,” Maxie said, agreeing with the thrust of Courtney’s point.

“They also lost another Gym Leader sir,” Courtney said pulling another folder out and presenting it to Maxie. He indulged himself in running his hands across the paper before coughing and flipping through it.

“Grey? And he was taken in by… Kong?” Maxie hummed, his fingers drumming a staccato on the desk before him. “Grey was the Leader of the small Gym in Neon City, while Kong is the Gym Leader that shares Saffron City with the Psychic Gym, correct?”

“Precisely so sir,” Courtney said.

Maxie smiled, pleased at his recall, both were minor, but still notable figures of Indigo. “So there will be greater pressure, we should have interested parties begin pressuring the League, they will have taken a large bite of their criminal underworld and now must swallow.”

Maxie laced his fingers. “I have kept abreast of the developments and young Lance has been setting himself up for weeks, if not months, now but this is still something that will test him and his League. We will have opportunities. Assembly our Agents and Planners, there will be places that we can move into I am sure, but there will also be traps we will need to avoid. Agatha is being replaced by Koga and neither were known for poor foresight.”

Tabitha shot to his feet and salute. “Sir!” he said beofre sprinting off to carry out his duties of assembling the Planners.

Maxie held his pose. “I’m not sure if I should reprimand him for running off like that, or for saluting… he does remember that I’m no longer a Major, doesn’t he?”

“Once a Sargeant, always a Sargeant sir,” said Courtney as she approached Maxie’s desk. “What else should we do?”

Maxie tapped the report. “I will need to find out who leaked this information. It wasn’t one of ours was it? Someone wants to create Chaose in Indigo. We shall be careful.”

“Of course sir,” said Courtney with a dutiful nod.

Maxie contemplated his options. “Information is key, as always, we need to gather as much as we can, I shall reach out to the former Wing Commander and get him to pass what he can along,” he said.

“Of course sir, the old Commander,” she said without a trace of emotion.

Despite this Maxie knew his eternal aide to be teasing him for using man’s old title. He was no longer a Wing Commander after all.

He indulged himself with a chuckle before dismissing her. “Assist Tabitha where you can, otherwise reach out to any other information brokers within Indigo.” He held out the reports he had and let them fall onto his desk to demonstrate how thin they were.

“Very well sir!” she said with a salute. She then turned on a pokedime and skipped out of the room much to Maxie’s amusement.

Maxie settled back in and turned to his computer, with his indulgence dealt with, he needed to get through some serious work before briefing on his plans going forward.

He would also need to consider how Archie might act in the face of such knowledge.

____________________________________________

Archie picked at his ear and glanced around the room. “So? Any reason we should give a shit about what’s going on in Indigo?” he said to his officers.

Matt shot to his feet. “Not at all sir! We have minimal interest in them due to most of the impacted sites being landlocked! That would not be for us to worry about!” he then struggled to sit down having launched his chair away when he stood.

Shelly hid her mouth behind her hand to titter as the giant stumbled about.

Amber ignored the byplay and waved his own hand. “I think it’s something that we should still be looking into, there’s always the chance to exploit Indigo’s inattention. They’ve been busy with something to their north so perhaps we should deploy some units to probe them along the coast? There might be some trade conveys we can claim for ourselves?”

Archie nodded. “The north has been weakened with the death of the old Cerulean monster and we have been rather lax not moving back in.” Archie stroked his chin in thought before shooting Shelly a look.

“What about her?” he said.

Shelly, and all the other Officers in the room, stiffened and glanced around carefully.

Shelly shook it off first. “There’s been no sightings of her recently. Common knowledge is that she is not within Kanto, or Johto, Sevii, or the Orange Islands—”

Archie held up a hand and waved to a whiteboard. “Add in a few missions into those islands, Indigo has been buddying up to them for a while. I think we should establish a few naval bases. Send out some scouts, if nothing else they’ll be good sites to acquire some different pokemon that might be swimming past.”

Matt sat and crossed his arms. “Anything that we can find in Indigo we get along our own coastlines if not better! The South Hoenn Current provides for us!” he said pumping his fist like one would if they were cheering on a sports team instead of a naturally occurring phenomenon.

“Hmmm that’s is mostly true, but we’re not just in the business of being mostly right,” Archie said firmly. Then he smirked. “However, there will be other sites that might not have been pumped into. Remember, Indigo doesn’t have any nautical infrastructure thanks to us!”

“Horah!” shouted Matt as the others in the room sat taller.

Shelly shot Archie a smug look. “And the same is true of Sevii and the Orange Islands, no?”

Archie pointed at Shelly like she’d just won a prize. Matt started up a proper chant, that if they were in the mess hall would have the grunts and rookies following along.

Archie let it play out for a little while before he had enough. He whistled sharply. “Ut! That’s enough of that!” he said. Matt fell quiet instantly and crossed his arms.

Archie waved a hand. “In other good news, for those not aware—” Archie pointedly flicked his eyes to the younger officers, and therefore those that hadn’t fought in the war. “—Surge has been caught up in the arrests.”

Amber and Matt both grinned savagely at this, while Shelly tutted in faux concern. “Think he’d appreciate some soap on a rope?” she said with a coy giggle.

This got a round of laughter from the older men while the youngsters merely laughed for the form of things.

Archie waved a hand to get the meeting moving along. “Right you youngsters should look him up in our records. The things you’ll find on the pokenet are all the censored cutesy details. Suffice to say he was a significant thorn in our side,” he said, ignoring Matt who was opening his shirt and pointing at the mass of lichtenburg scars on his ribs causing a few of the rookie officers to gape.

Archie let memories of a fight on a beach rise up and buoy him into the past. The smell of ozone was still fresh in his mind, while his hands had been slick with blood as he carted others out of danger.

“Ahem,” said Shelly softly.

Archie blinked as he realised he’d been caught dozing off. He shook his head and stared at the whiteboard as an assistant caught up to what had been said. What had they been talking about?

“What had we been talking about?” he said shamelessly.

The room at large paused to think with only Shelly sighing. “Her location,” she said pointedly.

“Who’s her?” said a rookie.

“We don’t talk about her,” said Matt pointedly. “Just know she was a crazy chick that fought in the war and ended up on the coastal defence of Kanto after starting as a landlubber! She turned up again a few years ago though! Raiding and killing a lot of our teams! Only to vanish!” Matt said. “She’s like a ghost!”

Archie whistled and shut the conversation down, it would be bad for morale if it spread too far. “Control yourselves,” he said.

He gave the room a pointed look. “Just know that she’s a menace that has returned. We have methods of dealing with her should she make another appearance,” he said.

He then waved a hand. “Point is that there are some vulnerabilities we should be looking into in Indigo.” He waved a hand. “What about other news? Any progress on discovering a route to any new locations that we can lead some of merchant groups to?” He smirked once more. “After all, it isn’t like Team Magma is going to find any land routes to another region!”

This earned a round of chuckles and the room relaxed as they moved on for the direction that Team Aqua would be progressing.

____________________________________________

Lola lay on her back and stared at the stars.

Lots of things had changed with the land and oceans after the war, that was something that a lot of the researchers and cartographers had agreed about.

Sadly, this meant that a lot of the landmarks and methods of getting around were off.  The use of compasses became much more complicated with the shift as every nation ended up jumbled about.

But Lola knew that things were getting better! They had to be! Things were calming down and she’d have a family… a family that weren’t evil traitors even, at home waiting for her! She could love them and laugh with them and not at all have to…

Lola’s bottom lip wobbled. Was she doing the right thing? Being out here like this?

She sat up and slapped her cheeks with her hands, and then for good measure, used her feet to slap her cheeks. The odd act never failed to lighten her heart.

She giggled to herself.

She’d kept herself limber, something that Flint always seemed to enjoy!

Yes, things would be fine! Flint was at home, and the children were growing well.

Flint was good like that.

He was her rock.

Her anchor in rough seas.

She clutched at a rock necklace that had an array of different types of rocks, all of them picked by Flint, or her children and given to her.

They were all her anchors.

She shut her eyes and inhaled once, then exhaled slowly. Count of four, and repeat for four.

She knew where she was, and where she had come from.

Now she just needed to work out where she was going.

She looked back up at the stars.

The world might have changed, but the stars, they hadn’t.

Well, not by much.

If you paid enough attention you could navigate with the stars. She held up a hand towards the Tauros star system and held her thumb just so so that the tip touched the Solrock constellation.

Yes, she knew exactly where she was.

“Now… where am I going?” she said looking around.

North, she decided. She was going north.

A giant wave rose up and a Gyarados roared from atop it in challenge, its eyes locked on Lola and her pokemon.

Lola sighed. This again? How many did this make today? Seven?

“Lapras, be a dear,” she said to her pokemon.

Her pokemon unleashed an Ice Beam that froze the wave, and the surrounding ocean they were on. Lola huddled up into her jacket and huffed. The Gyarados tried to escape the frozen wave but it could barely twitch.

Lola ignored it, shuddering into her jacket for warmth. “Blasted Gyarados,” she said before pointing north.

She was on an adventure! She couldn’t wait to find what she was looking for, her family would be so proud! Especially her daddy!

She paused as pain flashed through her head. She slapped her cheeks once again and pushed the painful thoughts aside. Yes, daddy, and her cousins, and her husband and children. Yes, all of them would be so proud of her.

Yes! She was on her way! Just a quick adventure to stay fresh!

Lola glanced around and frowned at the ocean.

“How long have I been out here?” she said aloud.

No one responded beyond her Lapras giving her a worried look as it sped up, looking for land to the north.

____________________________________________

Steven Stone laid down the proposal and raised a red stamp to hammer it into the form. He then turned his attention to the rest of his inbox, his movements lackadaisical and worn.

He raised another form and perused it. A joint initiative from Indigo for policing? He hammered it with a red stamp.

Tax relief forms? Red stamp.

Cross continental communications towers? He paused as he noted that it included a seal from the Devon corporation. He raised a new stamp and slammed that down, leaving a green mark on the form.

Really, he should be doing this on his computer, and he was creating more work for his secretary staff, but there was a certain visceral joy that you got with doing it physically like this.

“Well, if this is how you are, I think I might just reschedule our match,” said a grizzled voice from the doorway.

Steven huffed, “I assure you Drake, I will be ready for our battle,” he said dismissively.

He’d known the man was there for a while and hadn’t cared if the man saw him working, even if it was without his usual pomp and flare.

“Hmpf, you’re going to get sloppy, you need more discipline,” Drake said sternly.

Steven shook his head. “I have no such issues, I assure you,” he said to the man with a shake of his head.

The man was quite stuck in his ways but then again, when you were raised and spent most of your life in the service, it made sense.

Steven leaned back as Drake approached. The older man’s eyes flicked over the forms on Steven’s desk more out of habit than interest.

“Let me guess,” Steven began, “You’re here to discuss with me the Indigo situation?”

Drake merely nodded, claiming a seat and making himself comfortable.

“Hoenn will not be doing anything beyond congratulating the Indigo League on its success in finally dealing with its criminal elements. Of course, for the sake of the public we will be increasing our own spending towards police and the crackdown on a number of sites known to us,” Steven said waving at a small stake of forms with green stamps on them.

“We will otherwise be pointing out that Indigo’s issues are wonderful but not reflective on our state of affairs,” Steven said lacing his fingers together.

Drake snorted. “People are going to ask about Magma and Aqua,” he said.

“And those have always been minor issues compared to the widespread and international issues presented by Team Rocket,” Steven responded calmly. The well-practised words sliding from his lips with ease.

Drake smirked. “Alright, good to see that you losing out on your chance to show off didn’t impact you too much,” said the older man as he stood to march away.

Steven narrowed his eyes. How had Drake known? “Ho? You were aware?”

“My instincts are top notch,” Drake said from the doorway. “They’d have to be afterall, I was the Wing Commander for a reason!” said Drake before waving over his shoulder.

Steven stared after him. He might need to spend some more time with his pokemon, just to make sure they were ready for the fight with Drake.

Suddenly even with his Mega-evolution, he didn’t feel as sure of his victory. He shook the thought off, but still tapped his intercom. “Cancel my afternoon appointments, I’m going to be working with my pokemon.”

With that done, Steven turned back to approving or dismissing proposals.

____________________________________________

In a darkened room, a group of people sat around a long rectangular table.

At the head of the table, a woman that appeared middle-aged sat. She, and indeed everyone in the room shared a smirk with each other.

“Well, I think that went rather well, don’t you?” said Madam Bossue to the room at large.

Behind her, a black Gardevoir held up a hand to her mouth to titter.

Blaine laughed. “Ha! Age trumps youth as they say!” he said with a savage grin.

The Madam nodded her head. “Yes, thank you for deciding to accept my deal back then Blaine. It was very pragmatic of you, we’ll be able to recreate your research facilities, I’m sorry about your Gym, however.”

Blaine snorted and waved a hand, “I’m not, that was all outdated equipment. I can restart where I left off easily enough and with the new funding you promised, I think we can come up with a number of different projects that I’ve been interested in.”

“I still can’t believe it worked as well as it did,” said Ariana out loud. She looked to two empty seats and sighed. “It’s a shame about Sham and Carl not making it out.”

The Madam shifted. “It was a loss to have them captured, but not an irrecoverable one. We now have unrestricted access to all the plans, dear little Gio, thought he’d kept hidden from me.”

The Madam clicked a button and a screen lit up. “Ladies and Gentlemen, Team Rocket under Giovanni is no more, we now return to me as C.E.O. For that purpose, one of the first items of business will be a rebranding of our name. We are now TRI holdings!”

Blaine snorted. “Standing for Team Rocket International?”

The madam nodded.

A young man raised a hand. “Uhm Madam, what are we going to do about Will? You had him sent to your son and he didn’t escape? Won’t he implicate you?”

The Madam and Blaine laughed at this, while others looked between the pair in confusion.

The Madam shook her head and sighed theatrically. “I’m sorry to say that Madam Bossue is a name I will have to drop, but oh well.” She then swept a hand across her face, hiding it for a fraction of a second.

As the hand passed over her face, it shifted, becoming slimmer, and more vibrant. The black hair shifted colour and changed to a blonde bobcut while her eyes shifted shape.

More than a few Executives gaped. “H-how?!” Ariana said in surprise.

Blaine grinned. “Ditto are such wonderful things. Why thanks to their assistance you’d never know the Madam was over—”

“Ahem!” said the Madam, cutting off Blaine before anything more could be revealed. Blaine merely cackled.

She smiled at the room at large. “As I was saying, Madam Bossue is no more, I will now, for the purposes of running TRI holdings be going by a new name.”

“Call me Domino!” she said with the bubbly laugh of a woman many decades younger than she actually was. A few of the men smiled widely only to blink as they recalled what they’d just witnessed moments before.

She smiled guilelessly and many shuddered as they were drawn into the false persona again, only to remember how fake that was.

With a simple demonstration, the new boss of TRI cemented herself as a scary individual in their minds. More than a few people then recalled that she’d left her own son out to dry.

She truly was a terrifying woman.

A few had to wonder, what with would mean for them, with a woman who seemingly had no line she wouldn’t cross taking over leadership.

The future seemed so bright, but at the same time, so very uncertain.