Looker told us of the interpol's very first task the moment I confirmed my acceptance of his offer. As it turns out, we will be assisting Indigo to take down Team Rocket.

I couldn't believe my ears either when I first heard of it.

Unlike what was portrayed in the games or anime, Team Rocket is a very scary existence in this world. They are the most dangerous criminal organisation you could find in this world and they are so huge that they spanned across two regions and ruled over both regions' underworld. Looker had allowed me access to confidential information that showed me just how daunting our first task is, like how Team Rocket now has Mewtwo under their control and how Giovanni is the leader of Team Rocket. A legendary pokemon and a Gym Leader. Those two alone made a very scary combination. And now you add the full might of the biggest and most powerful criminal organisation onto it?

This is going to be tough even for Indigo, and that is understating it.

From what I was let known, before Team Rocket became Team Rocket they were an underground organisation called SKIP. SKIP was founded more than twenty years ago, at a time where tensions between Kanto and Johto were at an all time high and where corruption had seeped very deep into the Indigo Government, many of the corrupt politicians being Johtonians. The founders of SKIP genuinely believed that Kanto would do better on her own at that point in time instead of being affected by the corrupted dealings of Johtonian politicians, and hence decided to work towards separating Kanto from Indigo. They named their organisation as an acronym of their beliefs, Separation of Kanto from Indigo through Peace. SKIP had experts from many fields and industries working for them. As long as they are a Kantonian and are sincere for a peaceful separation, they will be welcomed with opened arms. Even notable figures like Professor Samuel Oak, Agatha, Blaine, Fuji, and Bill were a part of SKIP.

And Giovanni too.

However, SKIP's work is directly working against Indigo's own interests, which means that in the eyes of Indigo, their existence cannot be tolerated. The moment SKIP's existence was found out, the Indigo President, Kain Briggs, ordered their extermination. In a single night, the entire organisation was exterminated with only a few people escaping with their lives intact and their involvement with SKIP a secret. SKIP was officially disbanded after that day.

Or at least that was what everyone believed.

From what we now know, Giovanni had salvaged what he could from SKIP's leftover works and rebuilt it into the Team Rocket the world now knows. Giovanni is still aiming for Kanto's separation from Indigo but this time, he plans to achieve it in a more violent manner. That was how the entire Rocket situation came about and why there is suddenly a war being secretly declared on Johto by Team Rocket.

Problem is, Indigo doesn't have a choice but to confront Team Rocket head-on. An informant had leaked to Lance, and subsequently to the Indigo League, that Team Rocket will be planning one of the biggest attacks to ever be conducted on Indigo, starting from the Indigo Plateau on National Day, which is only slightly more than two weeks from now. From there, they will immediately start a war campaign to conquer Johto in an entire day and overthrow Indigo. This is a very summarised version of the problem at hand. The whole affair is a lot more complex than that.

To make things more complicated nobody has any idea who this informant is, although from how accurate and truthful the information he or she had leaked to Lance so far, it's safe to say that what the informant is warning us about Team Rocket is true. Additionally, Indigo's President cannot be trusted as well because the informant not only released a hella lot of information about Team Rocket, but also revealed a lot of dirt about Kain to the extent that it convinced everyone who had read through it that it is best if President Briggs is not involved in the upcoming operation. The Indigo Government has also been revealed to have no small amount of corrupt politicians in it and a considerable number of them are confirmed by the informant to be working for Team Rocket. As such, the Indigo League cannot rely on the Indigo Government in this upcoming war, they are largely on their own.

Not all is lost though. For one, the PWL is assisting Indigo's efforts through the interpol. Secondly, the other regions had pledged their help to Lance and to the Indigo League in the form of getting several of their region's Pillars who were already here in Indigo for a PWL meeting beforehand to stay and help. Siebold is one of them. Naturally, all of this is hush-hush because of the need for secrecy. We don't want Team Rocket to realise that we are already onto their plans and we don't want President Briggs and by extension, the corrupt Indigo Government, to interfere with whatever we are doing to help save Indigo.

This brings me back to my current situation. The interpol needs to find a way to help Indigo and prevent Team Rocket from dealing a crippling blow on the nation. Team Rocket's grasp over Indigo is so solid and deep that it is no laughing matter. I'm not even sure if we could win this fight, but I do know that I'll be glad if we can all come out alive. That's how low my expectations are in regards to what we will be up against.

My expertise lies in uncovering the truth. Things like formulating a plan to destroy terrorist groups like Team Rocket is definitely out of my comfort zone. In this entire stop-Team-Rocket-from-taking-over-Indigo operation, I have no idea how I am able to help out.

And yet, I'm still here anyway.

I will skip past the boring process of how I met the other members of the interpol. What I do know is that currently, including me and Shannon, there are seven members in total who are part of the interpol. Three of them are only temporarily a part of the interpol just to help out in this current crisis. They will take their leave when we are done with the Rocket problem.

The director of the interpol is Looker, an agent of the PWL. Seeing as how the PWL appointed him as the director of such an important group, he must be very trusted by them and also probably very capable in what he does. Other than that, I have nothing else go on about him. I have no idea on how he is as a person, what his capabilities are, etcetera.

Then there is a little girl only thirteen years of age, Velda Vera, who is from Hoenn and the heiress of the famous Vera Farm, a farm which specialises in pokemon breeding and the largest one you could ever find in Hoenn. Her family is an ancient family and have been pokemon breeders for generations, even way before Hoenn was founded. Due to how important her family's work is in Hoenn and how ancient the lineage of the Vera family, her family is sometimes seen as royalty in her region. In other words, she is the equivalent of a princess. How and why she ended up becoming a member of something as dangerous as the interpol is something that I haven't figured out yet.

Then there is the couple from Alola, Akamu Kahale and Marianne Kahale, who are only helping the interpol out temporarily. From what I can tell the both of them used to work under Looker a long time ago until their resignation, which means that they both used to be PWL agents. Although as to why they treated Looker with some sense of hostility and distrust, I have no clue, but something probably happened between them a long time ago. In any case, Looker somehow managed to get them to agree to help him and the interpol in this Rocket crisis. As for anything else that might have happened between the three of them, I'm not privy to the details.

Akamu is a combat agent and a Fairy Specialist, but Looker had told me that his expertise lies in supporting his comrades on the battlefield by ensuring that they stay alive no matter how dangerous things will be. I haven't seen Akamu in action yet but going by Looker's words, he is probably very skilled. Marianne, who is also more commonly referred to as "Mary", is an inventor of unparalleled intellect. She is the one who actually perfected Foldable Space Technology for commercial use, allowing greater ease and freedom for trainers and civilians alike on their travels. Having her around is definitely good for the interpol.

Last but not least, the final and most powerful member of our temporary group and someone who Shannon and I have been trying to find to no avail, until now.

Volkner Tide, the previous and 42nd Gym Leader of Sunyshore. The nemesis of Sinnoh's underworld and Team Galactic. The holder of the title of the Strongest Gym Leader of Sinnoh and also Sinnoh's strongest Electric Specialist until his resignation. He is an expert when it comes to crime management and crime busting. Finding him to help out in Indigo's current crisis is definitely a wise move on Indigo's part, but that is not what Shannon and I are concerned with right now.

What we are concerned with is if he is like us as we had suspected, that he is also a reincarnated soul and the holder of the title of Leader, Incarnate of Lightning as etched in that mysterious stone tablet. He is the best fit that we know and can think of.

The location of the interpol's very first meeting, surprisingly enough, is at Volkner's home. It seems that he had moved to Olivine after his resignation because his wife is a Johtonian. Not only that, his wife is Olivine's Gym Leader, Jasmine. How he managed to marry such a person as his wife without suffering any sort of known political repercussions from Indigo and Sinnoh is beyond me, but I have no right to go poking around for answers because this is their privacy.

Volkner's home is located at the west side of Olivine City in a place known to the locals as the West Forest. After his retirement, Volkner had built himself an entire forest for him and his wife to live within, out of sight and hidden from the public's eye. According to Looker, very few knew that the West Forest belongs to him and Jasmine and even fewer knew that Jasmine had married Volkner. I'm guessing that such secrecy is warranted due to their sensitive statuses as Gym Leaders from two different regions. They probably don't want to deal with any forms of public comments or opinions on their marriage and neither does Indigo and Sinnoh.

Looking at this, I guess being a Gym Leader isn't as cracked up as people made it to be.

Unfortunately, there isn't a chance during the interpol meeting where Shannon or I can speak to Volkner in private. Shannon had to take her leave halfway together with Mary because they are part of the tech team that will be responsible for finding a way to release Mewtwo from the contraption that Team Rocket uses to control it, the M2 Bind. I don't know if releasing Mewtwo from its restraints is a good idea due to my foreknowledge about that particular pokemon, but at least it's better than having it under Team Rocket's total control.

The meeting between the remaining five of us continued with Volkner leading the bulk of the discussion of the meeting. Surprisingly, he didn't dive into the Rocket problem immediately, but rather took time to analyse the informant's motives and discussed his findings with us, because there are things that he felt that didn't add up when it comes to how the entire situation developed into what it is right now. The discussion took a little long, but there are three main points that Volkner brought up that he found suspicious.

First of all, the fact that among the extremely huge size of information leaked to Lance, more than half of those are dirt on Kain. Kain is the Indigo President, it's not easy to get so much information on him, much less the highly confidential ones that had been leaked to Lance. That in itself is suspicious. Furthermore, if the leak of information was to warn Lance about Team Rocket's plan to conquer and overthrow Indigo, why is it that most of the information is about Kain instead of Team Rocket? Better still, why tattle on Kain in the first place? Having dirt on Kain to prove to us that he cannot be trusted is fine, but having so much dirt is not going to help us deal with Team Rocket. So, why go through so much trouble?

Secondly, the way the information was leaked to Lance is definitely fishy. Lance only knew about the leaks because hard drives kept appearing on his office desk day after day for nearly an entire week and no matter what he did, he just couldn't catch the informant in the act. Lance is the Indigo Champion, the strongest trainer in the nation. How did the informant evade detection right in the heart and brain of the Indigo League right in their HQ itself? How did the informant keep giving Lance the slip? Not just once, not just twice, but many times. That is another suspicious point.

Thirdly, after Volkner had somehow done his own illegal digging into the Indigo Government's database (I really do not want to talk about the legality and possible repercussions of this issue and I do not want to know the details), he found that the informant actually dug up everything there is to be dug up in the database except for one highly confidential file. That file is a file that documents a top secret project, Project Illusion.

Looking through the file on Project Illusion is when I realised how twisted this world can be beneath its beautiful facade.

Project Illusion, in short, is Kain's own military project to amass his own personal army of operatives and is definitely illegal. Most of his operatives ended up as spies as far as we can tell from the file. How these operatives are gathered is through abduction. All of these operatives were kidnapped at a very young age and had no recollection of their past. After that, these operatives are brainwashed through the pokemon move, Hypnosis, to instill absolute loyalty to Kain and only him. Needless to say, this is not a Government or League sanctioned project and it is definitely illegal for Indigo's President to have his own personal army. Just the abduction part alone is both immoral and illegal. In total, the file states that 359 children had been abducted and brainwashed to be Kain's loyal operatives since the start of the project about two decades ago. As of the time this file was dug out in secret by Volkner, the file also states that 358 operatives had already died in the line of duty, which means only one is left.

And the information that we need to find out just who that one sole survivor is had been deliberately wiped, and Volkner managed to find out that the timing when the wipe happened was just shortly before he went through his illegal escapade and snuck into the Government's database. We had all the profiles and identities of the deceased operatives of Project Illusion, all 358 marked as deceased on their respective profiles. We had knowledge of the identities of all 358 of them except for the sole survivor, who we narrowed down to be Operative 2046, the only missing profile from the file. That is the last suspicious point.

If Lance's informant had the ability to access all of Kain's secrets that one could possibly find, why is it that the informant doesn't want anybody to know about Project Illusion and Operative 2046? Why delete the profile of the only operative of Project Illusion that is currently still alive? Is there a bigger factor at play behind why the informant chose not to leak to Lance the existence of such a project?

Volkner speculated that the informant that is helping Lance and Indigo behind the scenes has to be Operative 2046. It would provide a reasonable explanation to the three suspicious points he listed out. If that operative is working for Kain all along, he would definitely have a chance to access all of his dirty secrets. Infiltrating the Indigo HQ would definitely be easier for him. If Volkner's speculation is true, the only thing that we cannot explain would be why Operative 2046 would choose to wipe out the only traces of his existence in the Indigo Government's database. It may be for personal reasons, as unlikely as it sounds because all operatives of Project Illusion are supposedly brainwashed to be absolutely loyal to Kain through Hypnosis, but in any case, this is where we reached a dead end regarding Lance's informant.

Our meeting came to a temporary pause from here because it is lunch time and Volkner had suggested that we use his kitchen to cook our own lunch, which also doubles as an ice breaking session for everyone to get to know everyone else better. Looker has disappeared because he needs to report back to the PWL through another web conference, so he's not with us. The tech team is still hard at work in Volkner's garage, so it is up to the four of us to prepare a meal for everyone. I had wanted to use this chance to talk to Volkner in private, but he had disappeared with Velda in order to get some of the extra ingredients we needed even before I could do so, so it's just Akamu and I in the kitchen helping to prepare whatever we need to prepare.

Oh well, there's always another time to ask Volkner if he knows what America is.

"So, how's Kalos like?"

Akamu's big muscled build and stern looking face made a very scary sight. I had seen him accidentally crack Volkner's table with a smash of his fist when he got enraged reading about Project Illusion earlier and truthfully, I was intimidated. However, the moment we tried to start a conversation to know each other better I found that he is actually a gentle giant.

"It's beautiful." I said with a small smile as I went about preparing and searching for what I need to cook. We had decided that we should each cook a unique delicacy from our own respective regions, which is fine by me. I plan to cook a huge pot of Soupe à L'oignon, which is actually onion soup, but also a very unique and famous dish in Kalos. It sounds simple from the name alone, but cooking a Kalos style onion soup that is worthy of the name Soupe à L'oignon is no easy feat. Even with Siebold teaching me I messed it up at least ten times before I could cook a decent pot of it that is good enough to be served to others.

Everytime I cook, it makes me appreciate Siebold's culinary skills and efforts all the more.

"Huh, no onions?"

"Volkner and Velda went to get some. I heard Volkner saying that he grew some of his own food within this forest, including things like onion, garlic, and ginger." Akamu added helpfully as he continued to knead a big ball of dough.

"I will have to wait for their return before I could really start on anything then." I mused before walking closer to Akamu to see what he was doing.

"I'm planning to cook Saimin." Akamu answered the unsaid question. "Think about it as Johto's ramen, Alola style. Mary loves to eat the Saimin I cook for her, so..."

"I get it, I get it." I said with a laugh. "You are planning to make your own noodles then? Why not just use the premade ones?"

"It would taste better if I made the noodles myself." Akamu answered with a shrug. "If you truly want to savour the Alola taste, you need to have an Alolan to do it. Honestly speaking, my skills in the kitchen aren't that great. Mary is a far better cook than I do. Cooking is her hobby. If you truly want to eat the best and truest Alolan saimin, Mary's is what you should try out."

"I see. And you are right, cooking a truly good meal isn't easy. It makes me appreciate every meal even more." I took this opportunity to continue this lighthearted conversation since we are on the topic of food. "I have a friend who is a masterchef. You know Siebold?"

"The one from Kalos Elite Four?" Akamu asked with raised eyebrows.

"That one." I nodded in response. "I learnt a thing or two from him when it comes to cooking. Hopefully I won't disappoint later."

"I'm sure you won't." Akamu replied with a friendly grin. "If anything, I'm probably the worst chef out of the four of us. Most of my life is spent in battles, I never really had time to cook. Even when I was retired Mary hogged all of the cooking duties to herself because the kitchen is her own personal territory in our house. I'm not allowed to use the kitchen without her permission."

"You were a PWL agent, right?" I asked curiously. "And Fairy Specialist? Not many chose to pursue that kind of specialisation."

"I'm a Faller." Akamu said before turning to face me. "You know what the term means?"

"Uh, I've heard of it before but…" I frowned in thought as I searched through my superb memories. Nope, that is all I know about the term. "Nobody ever told me what it meant."

"Ever heard of Ultra Wormholes? The phenomenon unique to Alola?" Upon seeing the nod of my head, Akamu continued his explanation. "Fallers are people who were sucked into these wormholes and subsequently fell out of it after an undetermined period of time. When they do fall out of the wormholes, Fallers don't retain any of their memories prior to getting sucked into it. They come out as a blank slate. I do not know when I was sucked into one, but when I fell out of it I was approximately eight years of age. Not only that, because we Fallers had been inside the Ultra Wormholes, our bodies now emit a very special kind of energy that only Ultra Beasts can track. We have to constantly be on the run from these Ultra Beasts in order to stay alive."

"That's…" My mouth opened and closed without being able to form another word. That kind of life is not something anyone should go through. I had heard of Alola's Ultra Beasts. They are insanely powerful and dangerous.

How did this guy manage to survive getting hunted down by Ultra Beasts ever since he was eight till now? The fact that he is still alive is already a testament to his skills. No wonder Looker wanted him in the interpol.

"Please don't feel bad for me. I've gotten used to it a long time ago." Akamu returned a friendly smile my way to diffuse the awkwardness. "But yeah, it was largely because of my circumstances that pushed me to choose to pursue the path of becoming a Fairy Specialist. Fairies are good in supporting and recovering. Even if they cannot win their battles, they can at least ensure that they survive it. That was what I needed back then, the power to survive. Unlike how trainers fight their battles, I don't fight to win, I fight to survive. That's what sets me apart from others."

"I see." I nodded in understanding. "As you would already know, I'm a historian. I dabble in many different types of history from many different eras, but what I dabbled in most is the history of the Kalos King. It's a piece of history in my region from about 3,000 years ago."

"That long?" Akamu said with a somewhat impressed look. "It must not be easy then, uncovering the history behind the Kalos King."

"It wasn't." I replied with a laugh. "I had hit too many dead ends to count, but it was thanks to my pursuit in the truth behind this particular piece of history that I caught Looker's eye. My work seems to be highly valued by the Kalos League because it helped uncover some sort of top secret information about the region. That is all I can reveal."

"I find it to be impressive." Akamu said with an encouraging tone. "No matter what anyone says, for your work to be able to catch the eye of your regional League is something to be proud of. Are you a trainer?"

"Ground Specialist." I replied. "But I haven't been battling seriously for quite some time ever since I participated in my first conference. I had the luck to face Siebold as my last opponent in that conference. He went on to be an Elite Four shortly after that."

"Well, he's an Elite Four. There's no shame in losing to someone like him."

"You should see how he behaves behind closed doors." I deadpanned. "That is when you wonder how you lost to someone like him."

"At least Kalos has their own regional League, Alola has nothing. Our islands are barely united as it is." Akamu said with a sigh.

"If you don't mind me asking, why is that so?"

"Unlike the other regions, Alola's wilderness cannot be tamed." Akamu said after some thought. "The species of wild pokemon living in our lands is very diversified and varied, many of them extremely ferocious and territorial by nature. Just the dragon types alone is enough to give us a huge headache when they are out claiming their territories for themselves. Kommo-o, salamence, garchomp, noivern, drampa, and many other more. Just a single species can cause wanton destruction by themselves. And then there's Ultra Beasts, creatures that cannot be defeated single handedly unless you are someone who has strength on par with those expected from a Gym Leader. Not only that, pokeballs don't work on these guys, so you cannot catch them to contain the threat they pose to the region."

Akamu then took a brief pause before continuing to explain to me Alola's unique circumstances.

"These are only some of the dangers that are always present in Alola. Due to how dangerous it can be to commute and travel even within an island itself, Alola's transport infrastructure is severely behind. Anything we build, Ultra Beasts will tear it down soon enough. If they don't, then the other species of wild pokemon will. It's just a matter of time. And when the region's transport infrastructure is behind, it's not just that the economy will suffer too, it's hard for Alolans across all four main islands to feel that they are one and the same because we all have our own traditions unique to our island, own cities and towns, and even within our own tribe. It's very hard to feel that we are all part of the same region because of that."

Akamu continued to knead the dough as he spoke.

"This is why I was impressed when I learnt that Volkner somehow managed to unite his city and linked up all the different parts of Sunyshore together. It's no easy feat. From what I know, Sunyshore's situation was somewhat like Alola's until Volkner became its Gym Leader. If Alola had someone like Volkner to help solve our problems, maybe we would have our own regional League by now."

"Then maybe you can help Looker to convince him to join the interpol full time. You will have his eternal gratitude." I said in a wry tone, which elicited a chuckle from Akamu.

"It's not that I don't trust Looker, I don't trust the PWL. Neither does Mary. The PWL trusts Looker, a lot, and he in turn, is very loyal to the PWL. The name 'Looker' is simply his codename. Do you know that even up till now, Mary and I have no idea what Looker's true name is? That is the amount of protection the PWL gives to Looker. If the PWL gives Looker the order to harm me or Mary, he will do it regardless of personal sentiments, because that's who he is. He is that loyal to the PWL's cause and I never did manage to find out why. Word of advice when working under Looker, you can trust him, but always look out for yourself first and foremost, because Looker's priority will never be you. To him, it will always be the interest of the PWL first and everything else second."

"That bad?" I winced.

"Not really." Akamu shook his head slightly. "He's very dependable and a good teammate to have, but he's overly loyal to the PWL. Just make sure you keep that in mind while working for the interpol."

"Got it. Thanks for the information."

"You're welcomed."

"You say that the name 'Looker' is simply a codename." I tried to change the topic of discussion as a random thought popped into my mind. "Do all PWL agents get a codename of their own?"

"Most do." Akamu nodded. "If you are a combat agent, definitely so. Mine was Guardian, Mary's was Tinkerer. Most likely, Looker would ask you to get a codename of your own sooner or later before our fight with the Rockets begin. You might want to start thinking of a codename now and hope that it hasn't been used yet."

Guardian?

If there's one title among the seven that Shannon and I never managed to fully decipher, it would be Guardian, Protector of Lives. We never knew what pokemon typing 'Lives' refers to. Akamu said he is a Fairy Specialist and now that I think about it, the word 'Lives' may very well refer to fairy types. In Kalos, fairies are sometimes seen as a sign of prosperity and fertility in ancient times. There is not much that had been investigated about fairy types because as a whole, fairy types prefer to keep to themselves although they are not exactly a rare sight to behold. However, there are indeed more mentions of fairy types throughout Kalos history during prosperous times when everything is abundant, a sign of life. Legends of Xerneas also heavily suggest that the legendary pokemon of Kalos is also a fairy type, and Xerneas is indeed a giver of life.

What if the holder of the last title is someone who has a special affinity for fairies? It would make perfect sense. Not only that, Akamu is not only a Fairy Specialist, but also has the codename of "Guardian", a term which refers to a person who protects or defends something. It's a little too much of a coincidence.

Maybe I should just channel my inner Shannon and ask the question she asked me? If my guess is wrong at the very most I could laugh it off as some sort of joke, if my guess turns out to be right I might have just found the third among the seven of us.

"Have you ever heard of… China?"

There, at least the question I asked is a little different from Shannon's.

Akamu's hands stopped kneading the dough the moment he heard my question and from how he slowly turned to face me, I knew I just found the third among the seven of us.

Talk about an unexpected finding.

Akamu looked towards the exit of the kitchen and when he was sure that there was nobody else in our vicinity, he turned back to look at me.

"How did you know about China?"

"Probably the same as how you knew about it, although I'm certain I didn't appear from a wormhole." I explained, impressed that Akamu actually handled the surprise pretty well. Shannon and I had freaked out badly in our own individual way and here Akamu is, accepting it as it is without much visible surprise. Talk about possessing a strong mental fortitude.

"Shannon's like us too. We all remembered something from before." I added.

"So it's not just me." Akamu said, obviously in deep thought. "But you guys didn't appear from a wormhole? Weird."

"You might just be the only one among us to appear from a wormhole since that is a phenomenon unique to Alola. Shannon and I believe that there are a total of seven of us here in this world. You are the third so far."

"How do you know that there are seven of us?" Akamu questioned.

"Long story." I said with a sigh. "But to keep things simple, we suspect that there is one of us to be found in every region excluding Orre. I suspect Volkner to be like us too, but I never had the chance to have a private word with him. I wanted to find him to talk in private but he disappeared with Velda the moment we decided on how we are having lunch today."

"You know what, let's just go and find him." Akamu decided as he left the dough as it is and started to wash his hands. "If he really is like us it will save you the trouble of needing to explain your story twice."

"Wow, thanks."

"You have any idea how we came to be here?" Akamu asked the moment we were out of Volkner's house and released a decidueye, who took off into the air the moment Akamu instructed it to find Volkner and Velda for us. Decidueye's sharp eyesight will spot their location from above in this dense forest.

"That's the reason why Shannon and I wanted to find the rest of us. We thought maybe one of you will have an answer. From the looks of it, you have no idea either."

"The only thing I remembered was a little of the life of before." Akamu revealed. "I knew that there was an Alola region, but that's about it."

"There really was an Alola region? I never played the games that far so I never knew. I didn't even know if there was indeed a Kalos region."

"There was. Pokemon X and Y, if I recall correctly." Akamu replied before looking up when he heard decidueye calling for him from above. "It seems that decidueye found Volkner. Shall we go?"

"Yes please."

Decidueye got us to somewhere close to Volkner's location with a Shadow Sneak. We heard them even before we saw them.

"C'mon, short stack, let's go. We already got what we need."

"For the last time you Hokage wannabe, call me by that damn name one more time-"

Akamu interrupted their conversation even before I realised why.

"Hokage wannabe?"

Volkner and Velda turned in our direction in obvious shock, obviously not realising that we had snuck up to behind them until we revealed ourselves, but Volkner recovered extremely quickly. If I had no idea what the term Hokage meant, I wouldn't even have realised that Akamu and I had stumbled onto something.

"What are you talking about? And weren't you two in the kitchen marinating the meat or something?" Volkner feigned ignorance, his facial expression betraying nothing as his electivire stood beside him protectively, probably a little jumpy from how a Shadow Sneak from Akamu's decidueye allowed us to get to their backs undetected. Still, Akamu and I were sure that we heard what Velda just called him. She called him a Hokage wannabe. Akamu and I confirmed that we weren't hearing things when we exchanged looks earlier.

So not only were Shannon's and my suspicions spot on as to who holds the title of Leader among the seven of us, we just found another of us. Velda is like us too. I had just found another three of us within a short span of a day and we are all somehow involved with the interpol.

"Does the name Naruto mean anything to either of you?"

Judging from the change in Volkner's and Velda's facial expressions after Akamu asked that question, they are indeed holders of a unique title etched onto the stone tablet.

This is really an unexpected find.

Character and pokemon list:

Nova Labelle, Age: 26, Female, Ground Specialist, Historian, Niece of Lysandre

Pokemon on hand:

1. Mamoswine (Berg), Male

2. Golem (Crust), Female

3. Excadrill (Solid), Male

4. Golurk (Drift), Genderless

5. Garchomp (Core), Male

6. Claydol (Vision), Genderless

7. Whiscash (Seis), Male

8. Marowak (Tinen), Female

9. Torterra (Terra), Female

10. Gigalith (Mantle), Male

11. Tyrantrum (Jaws), Male

12. Aurorus (Sail), Female

13. Sandile (Rumble), Male

14. Unknown creature, self-proclaimed Zygarde (Blob), ?