Indigo Plateau.
Lance, Anabel, and several others sat silently in the League's highest council chamber.
In addition to the six who had returned from the Distortion World, the room was filled with the Elite Four from both Kanto and Johto, along with many senior officials from various departments of the Pokémon League.
It had been two days since Lance, Cynthia, and the others returned to the real world. Their first act upon returning was a bold one—unifying their voices to push for the legitimization of Hive, the shadowy organization.
This move was driven by events that had unfolded while Lucius and the others were trapped in the Distortion World. During their absence, the infected Azelf—known as Blue Saint Azelf, an infected host of extraordinarily high fusion levels—issued an order to all Hive operatives in Kanto: wreak havoc in the cities.
The intent was to spark open conflict between Hive and League forces across the regions, ultimately igniting a full-scale war.
Fortunately, the champions returned just in time to halt most of these coordinated strikes before they could reach critical mass. While several incidents had already begun, many were in early stages or hadn't yet triggered chain reactions, allowing the returning champions to suppress them before things spiraled out of control.
This was where Azelf had miscalculated.
It had assumed that once the champions were trapped inside the Distortion World, there would be no escape. Thus, its schemes were designed for long-term devastation—acts of terror capable of shaking the very cities to their core.
But such high-impact plans required time and manpower to execute. With the champions back far earlier than anticipated, most of these plots were neutralized, with only a few localized attacks managing to go through.
Still, those scattered successful assaults had already driven a deep wedge between Hive and local League forces.
With Lucius silent on the matter, the regional champion leaders came to a conclusion: Hive must be "cleansed" and made legitimate.
It was a practical mindset typical of League elites—after all, underground organizations were always more constrained than official ones.
If it were Team Rocket, no matter how influential Giovanni might be as both the CEO of a corporate oligarchy and a Gym Leader, there would never have been a path to legitimacy.
But Hive was different.
It had already absorbed a large portion of the League's upper echelon—especially those who held the greatest strength: the champion leaders. Their endorsement carried more weight than any bureaucrat.
And more importantly, Hive was still new. It had not yet garnered a truly negative image among the public. That made it the perfect time for a "whitewashing."
"You're saying... Hive was a secret organization created by the League itself?" Officer Jenny IX, head of the Jenny family, narrowed her eyes at the file handed to her by Agatha.
Based on the reports from police headquarters across the regions, this "Hive" didn't seem all that different from Team Rocket—just another violent criminal group.
Agatha gave a calm nod. "Correct. Hive was originally founded by Shadow Ops, our covert unit, and embedded within Team Rocket. To avoid alerting Rocket's leadership, we didn't report it to the League. I alone was assigned direct oversight."
The League executives exchanged uncertain looks as President Goodshow remained outwardly calm, glancing over everyone present.
Hive had risen overnight, replacing Team Rocket as Kanto's largest underground power—and yet no one in the room had known about it until now. And now, Agatha, a member of the Elite Four, was claiming Hive had always been under League jurisdiction.
Yes, Shadow Ops had considerable autonomy—but for an operation like dismantling Team Rocket not to be reported to the League? That violated every regulation and logical expectation.
If what she said was true, then Agatha had—without anyone's knowledge—replaced Giovanni as the head of Kanto's underworld.
Was all her behavior during Giovanni's downfall just an act?
And what was even more shocking—on the formal application requesting Hive's incorporation into the League structure, there were already signatures from every active Elite Four member and several champion leaders from both Kanto and Johto...
President Goodshow stared down at the document in his hand, disbelieving Agatha's claims. Not a single word of hers rang true to him.
As someone who had presided over the League for decades, the highest authority in Pokémon governance, he understood the moment he saw the signatures: Hive hadn't just replaced Team Rocket—it was now infiltrating the League itself.
But what puzzled him was—how had Hive secured the support of so many powerful figures?
Especially Lance and Anabel, who had just returned from the Distortion World.
What Goodshow didn't know was that in the two days since their return, Lance and the others hadn't immediately reported Ho-Oh and Lugia's plans to the League.
Instead, they had secretly convened a private summit atop Mt. Silver, where Lance—champion of both Kanto and Johto—called upon all eight Elite Four members from the two regions.
There, the infection had spread.
One by one, the Elite Four members were inducted into Hive.
But that wasn't the final goal. The true objective was to use these top-tier officials to replace the Pokémon League as the world's ruling authority.
The League had long cemented its influence through years of careful management. It couldn't be toppled by brute force. The most efficient way was infiltration.
By replacing the League's leaders with Hive-aligned personnel, they could seize control without ever drawing a weapon.
To that end, Lance had instructed Agatha, head of Shadow Ops, to fabricate Hive's origin story—claiming it was always a League-backed operation.
The idea was to first gain internal recognition from League leadership, which would make public acceptance much easier to engineer later.
Agatha, as the head of Shadow Ops, had the authority and capability to fabricate such a story. Even if other officials questioned her, they had no grounds to refute her.
Only one man could truly oppose them—President Goodshow.
Cunning and ruthless, Goodshow had run the League with an iron grip for decades, elevating it to the heights of legitimacy and dominance. He was not one to be deceived easily.
And yet, Lance and the others had deliberately placed all the signatures at the bottom of the document—one name after another.
Their intention was crystal clear.
They were staging a coup.
By presenting a nearly unanimous front of champion and Elite Four support, they were telling Goodshow:
Whether you agree or not... it's already happening.
Even as Goodshow maintained his calm facade, and even though most of those present had already been absorbed into Hive, Lance and the others still felt a trace of unease.
After all, this man had led the League through its greatest triumphs. His reputation was unparalleled. His will, ironclad.
To dethrone him would not be easy.
"And what if I don't approve this document?"
President Goodshow spoke slowly, his voice calm but laden with weight.
In an instant, every pair of eyes in the room turned toward the elder statesman.
Even the matriarchs of the Jenny and Joy families—both present as observers—looked momentarily confused.
Though neither of them were official members of the Hive, they understood the significance. Whether the document was legitimate or not, once the League recognized it, the entirety of Kanto's underground factions would be absorbed into the League's jurisdiction. It would bring order to chaos. Why oppose that?
"President," Brandon interjected firmly, stepping forward.
"This matter is of grave importance. It concerns the survival of the entire world. You must choose wisely."
His tone was sharp—borderline threatening. For those unaware of the deeper implications, the veiled pressure in his words came as a shock. Who would have expected someone of Brandon's stature to defy the President so openly?
And what did the Hive have to do with the world's survival?
An uncomfortable tension hung in the air as the conference room fell into silence—until it was suddenly broken by a rapid knock at the door.
A young staff member, dressed in standard clerical uniform, rushed in. His expression was tense as he whispered something into the ear of a senior aide, who then nodded and gestured toward the central console.
Without another word, the massive display screen lit up.
The live feed switched to a news report out of Hoenn.
A hush fell over the room as the footage rolled.
The seas off Hoenn's coast had turned into a vision of terror.
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